THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

RIVERSIDE 


GIFT  OF 

Dr.  Gordon  Katkins 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 


Instincts  in  Industry 

A  Study  of 
Working-Class  Psychology 

By 
Ordway  Tead 


Boston  and  New  York 
Houghton  Mifflin  Company 

Stc  JEUberf  (be  9rtM.  taxaktOtat 


COPYRIGHT,  1918,  BY  ORDWAY  TKAD 
ALL  RIGHTS  RESERVED 

Published  October  igi8 


TO 
MY  PARENTS 


^ 


When  it  is  known  what  types  of  instinc- 
tive mechanisms  are  to  he  expected^  and 
under  what  aspects  they  will  appear  in 
the  mind,  it  is  possible  to  press  inquiry 
into  many  obscurer  regions  of  human 
behavior  and  thought,  and  to  arrive  at 
conclusions  which  while  they  are  in 
harmony  with  the  general  body  of  biolog- 
ical science  have  the  additional  value  of 
being  immediately  useful  in  the  conduct 
of  affairs, 

WILLIAM  TROTTER 

in  The  Instincts  of  the  Herd  in  Peace  and  Wat 


PREFACE 

There  has  thus  far  been  little  serious  study  of 
the  industrial  activities  of  manual  workers  in 
the  light  of  our  increasing  body  of  knowledge 
about  human  nature  and  the  structure  of  human 
beings.  The  fears,  ambitions,  attitudes,  and 
achievements  of  working-people  have  been  stud- 
ied in  relation  to  economic  history,  climate, 
ethics,  and  religion;  but  attempts  to  show  the 
connection  of  their  conduct  with  the  realities 
of  human  nature  are  few.  This  is  to  be  regretted 
because  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  an  exami- 
nation of  human  behavior  in  industry  will  dis- 
close vital  relationships  between  those  malad- 
justments which  we  call  "labor  problems,"  and 
the  functioning  of  that  complex  of  inherent  tend- 
encies and  acquired  characteristics  which  is 
human  nature.  In  due  course  such  examination 
promises  to  lead  to  a  vastly  better  understand- 
ing of  events  and  their  causes,  and  to  a  delib- 
erate attempt  to  mold  the  world  nearer  to  the 
necessities  of  the  nervous  system  and  the  mind. 

A  comprehensive  survey  of  man's  conduct  in 
industry,  of  his  endowments  and  capacities  in 
the  light  of  modern  anthropology  and  the  so- 
called  "behavioristic"  psychology,  is  beyond 
the  scope  of  the  present  study.  The  aim  is  far 
less  ambitious.  It  is  to  show,  by  means  of  a 
varied  collection  of  facts,  incidents,  and  anec- 
dotes, that  human  conduct  tends  to  become  not 
only  more  intelligible  but  more  amenable  to  control 
as  we  view  it  in  the  light  oj  an  understanding  of  the 

ix 


PREFACE 

instinctive  mainsprings  of  action.  And  a  further 
limit  is  set  by  reason  of  my  confining  myself  to 
the  behavior  of  manual  workers.  I  have  three 
reasons  for  thus  concentrating  attention  upon 
working-class  conduct. 

First,  it  is  now  all  too  plain  that  the  under- 
currents of  industrial  unrest  and  discontent 
which  come  to  the  surface  w^th  increasing  fre- 
quency have  had  their  source  in  an  unconscious 
but  tremendously  eifective  repression  of  human 
aspiration  and  desire.  The  release  of  energy  and 
vigor,  which  is  needed  to  clear  the  air,  will  not 
come  until  we  see  human  nature  as  it  is. 

Second,  the  mind  of  the  Worker  is  grievously 
misunderstood.  At  a  time  in  the  country's  his- 
tory when  a  common  knowledge  of  the  motives 
and  attitudes  of  its  manual  workers  is  most  im- 
perative, we  have  little  real  understanding  of 
people  which  traverses  class  lines.  Efforts  toward 
"social  justice"  or  "industrial  democracy"  are 
doomxcd  to  be  fumbling  and  inept  if  there  is  no 
attempt  to  envisage  and  reckon  with  a  point 
of  view  among  the  workers  which  is  the  inevitable 
by-product  of  the  treatment  of  any  human  be- 
ing under  similar  circumstances. 

And  third,  the  "psychology,"  or  mental  proc- 
esses and  habits,  of  the  employers  as  a  class  has 
already  been  interpreted  by  other  writers.^ 

At  this  hour  in  the  world's  history  beyond  any 
other,  the  task  of  shaping  a  civilization  in  which 
the  democratic  enterprise  can  be  further  experi- 

^  See:  Frank  W.  Taussig,  Inventors  and  Money- 
Makers  ;  Werner  Sombart,  The  Quintessence  of  Capi- 
talism. 


PREFACE 

merited  with  in  safety,  carries  with  it  an  extraor- 
dinary challenge.  The  experiment  cannot  go 
far  unless  we  know  the  conditions  under  which 
the  individual  can  act  safely  from  the  point  of 
view  of  his  own  mental  integrity.  What  demands 
can  the  world  confidently  make  upon  each  of  us 
in  terms  of  our  capacity  to  cooperate,  to  act  with 
discrimination,  to  perpetuate  a  sound  physical 
and  mental  inheritance  —  what  demands  can 
it  make  and  be  reasonably  sure  that  each  of  us 
will  or  can  deliver,  can  go  the  pace?  What,  every 
thoughtful  student  of  reconstruction  is  asking, 
are  the  limitations  which  our  physical  and  nerv- 
ous inheritance  imposes  upon  human  achieve- 
ment; and  what  are  the  positive  human  forces 
which  can  surely  be  counted  on  as  the  rock-bot- 
tom basis  for  any  stable  readjustment? 

A  study  of  the  limitations  upon  human  achieve- 
ment is  in  effect  a  study  of  the  forces  at  work 
to  make  conduct  what  it  is.  To  know  these 
forces  requires  that  we  identify  the  elements  of 
human  nature.  This  is  our  first  task.  Recent 
psychological  research  has  thrown  real  light 
upon  this  problem,  and  while  there  is  no  abso- 
lute consensus  of  opinion  as  to  the  elements  of 
human  nature  (and  especially  as  to  the  names  of 
these  elements),  there  is  a  reasonable  agreement 
among  psychologists  upon  the  nature  of  the 
essential  human  characteristics.  With  these  in 
mind,  I  propose  to  state  and  consider  a  variety 
of  examples  of  familiar  types  of  behavior  in 
industry  to  see,  in  the  second  place,  to  what 
extent  conduct  does  become  more  intelligible  in 
the  light  of  a  knowledge  of  psychological  habits 
and  predispositions. 


PREFACE 

In  other  words,  this  study  will  proceed  from 
two  known  factors  —  the  human  impulses  and 
the  conduct  of  people  in  industry  —  to  some 
third  fact,  to  whatever  conclusion  about  the 
relation  of  these  two,  which  a  study  of  them 
admits. 

This  customary  method  of  proceeding  from 
the  known  to  the  unknown  has  determined  the 
confessedly  artificial  method  of  treatment  of 
this  study.  The  vital  instincts  of  human  beings 
are  enumerated  and,  in  connection  with  each, 
illustrations  of  conduct  are  considered  which 
seem  to  reveal  the  operation  of  specific  innate 
influences.  Nevertheless  no  precise  pigeon-hol- 
ing of  activity  is  intended  and  it  should  not,  of 
course,  be  countenanced.  Conduct  can  prob- 
ably never  be  submitted  to  completely  accurate 
dissection.  It  can  never  be  tied  up  in  neat  par- 
cels and  tagged  as  embodying  this  or  that  in- 
stinct alone.  The  unknown  and  unmeasured 
causal  elements  are  legion.  The  best  that  we 
can  do  is  to  make  a  beginning  in  interpretation. 
And  in  such  beginnings  it  is  inevitable  that  facts 
which  I  use  to  exemplify  the  influence  of  one 
instinct  will  appear  to  the  reader  to  indicate  the 
prompting  of  some  other  tendencies  either  sin- 
gly or  in  combination. 

Illustrations  are,  therefore,  to  be  taken  not  so 
much  as  making  out  a  case  for  the  relation  be- 
tween any  one  instinct  and  activity,  but  rather 
as  showing  the  vitally  dynamic  relation  between 
the  total  of  instinctive  predispositions  and  activ- 
ity. Directly  or  indirectly,  immediately  or  re- 
motely, some  one  or  a  combination  of  instincts 
is  destined  to  have  a  hand  in  conditioning  the 

xii 


PREFACE 

critical  choices  of  conduct.  Because  this  is  true, 
it  becomes  our  business  in  the  troubled  affairs 
of  industry  to  find  out  what  instincts  are  opera- 
tive and  in  what  ways  they  determine  and  limit 
behavior. 

In  order,  then,  to  be  quite  clear  as  to  the  limits 
within  which  the  present  study  is  undertaken, 
let  me  recapitulate  before  proceeding.  I  am  not 
attempting  here  to  interpret  conduct  in  terms 
of  any  arbitrary  classification  of  instincts,  or  to 
attribute  specific  courses  of  complex  activity 
to  unduly  simple  motives.  The  aim  throughout 
is  to  establish  an  understanding  point  of  viezv  toward 
familiar  activities  in  the  industrial  world  —  a  point 
of  view  which  construes  human  behavior  as  hav- 
ing an  organic  relation  to  the  human  nervous 
system  and  its  environment,  past  and  present. 

The  value  of  this  method  of  approach  to  the 
human  problems  in  industry  has  only  recently 
been  grasped.  But  there  is  justification  for  the 
hope  that  scientific  knowledge  of  human  nature 
can  give  us  a  sound  basis  for  concrete  attack 
upon  industrial  maladjustment;  can  offer  prac- 
tical suggestions  as  to  ways  of  squaring  indus- 
trial practices  with  known  facts  about  human 
nature,  and  can  afford  an  approximately  sound 
basis  for  prophesying  the  course  which  events 
will  take  under  given  circumstances.  It  is  to 
point  out  what  this  justification  is  and  to  suggest 
the  hopes  about  industrial  life  to  which  it  gives 
rise  that  this  study  is  devoted. 

With  this  purpose  in  view  my  volume  is  ad- 
dressed to  all  who  have  contacts  with  the  work- 
ers —  who  must  deal  with  them,  speak  for  them 
or  of  them.  The  book  is  an  effort  toward  a  better 

xiii 


PREFACE 

understanding  of  people  in  their  capacity  as 
manual  workers.  My  endeavor  is  to  provide 
a  weapon  by  which  the  mind  can  —  so  far  as  this 
is  intellectually  possible  — -  envisage  the  prob- 
lems of  human  beings  in  different  economic 
strata,  can  cut  across  class  lines,  see  over  class 
barriers  and  overlook  group  antagonisms.  To- 
day as  never  before,  the  professional  men,  the 
employer,  the  employment  manager  and  fore- 
man, the  labor  leader  and  social  worker  —  all 
are  under  the  necessity  of  knowing  what  the 
workers  are  thinking  and  feeling,  of  discovering 
the  content  of  their  mental  life  and  the  impulses 
by  which  they  are  moved. 

To  the  brain-workers  this  volume  is  addressed 
in  the  hope  that  the  great  gulf  which  separates 
them  from  the  hand-workers  of  the  world  may 
in  the  years  of  reconstruction  be  narrowed,  and 
a  common  ground  be  discovered  for  cooperative 
effort  toward  a  social  organization  which  will 
make  use  of  the  best  in  human  nature. 

I  have,  finally,  a  profound  indebtedness  to 
acknowledge.  This  book  is  my  own  only  in 
the  sense  that  I  have  elaborated  the  suggestions 
of  a  friend.  I  met  Professor  Carleton  H.  Parker, 
then  of  the  University  of  California,  when  he 
came  to  New  York  in  the  winter  of  191 6-17. 
And  in  the  course  of  a  conversation  about  the 
way  in  which  a  knowledge  of  modern  psychology 
explains  and  renders  intelligible  the  behavior  of 
people,  he  said:  "I  should  think  that  your  work 
in  factories  would  bring  to  your  attention  many 
admirable  illustrations  of  this.  You  ought  to 
collect  them." 

Professor  Parker's  untimely  death  prevented 

xiv 


PREFACE 

me  from  submitting  to  him  this  evidence  of  my 
obedience  to  his  suggestion.  I  can  only  make 
this  tardy  acknowledgment  of  obligation,  and 
hope  that  the  present  volume  proves  a  not  too 
inadequate  testimonial  of  my  gratitude  and  of 
my  desire  to  give  currency  to  a  point  of  view 
which  Professor  Parker  was  eager  to  see  ex- 
tended. 

O.T. 

New  York  City, 

July  IS,  1918. 


CONTENTS 

I.  What  ARE  THE  Instincts?    •      •      ,      .      I 
II.  The  Parental  Instinct       ....     14 

III.  The  Sex  Instinct 33 

IV.  The  Instinct  of  Workmanship,  Con- 

trivance, OR  CONSTRUCTIVENESS    .       .     44 

V.  The  Instinct  of  Possession,  Ownership, 

Property,  or  Acquisitiveness      .      .    (yj 

VI.  The  Instinct  of  Self-Assertion,  Self- 
Display,  Mastery,  Domination,  Emu- 
lation, or  "Give-a-Lead"      ...    86 

VII.  The    Instinct    of    Submissiveness    or 

Self-Abasement 113 

VIII.  The  Instinct  OF  THE  Herd         .      .      .131 

IX.  The  Instinct  of  Pugnacity       •      ,      .  156 

X.  The  Play  Impulse 171 

XI.  The  Instinct  of  Curiosity,  Trial  and 

Error,  or  Thought 179 

XII.  Conclusion ,      .  209 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

CHAPTER  I 

WHAT  ARE  THE  INSTINCTS? 

There  was  in  operation  for  some  years  at  the 
leper  colony  off  the  Philippine  Islands  a  sys- 
tem of  weekly  gratuities  to  each  man,  woman, 
and  child  confined  in  the  island  colony.  From 
the  women  and  children  no  accounting  for 
this  subsidy  was  required.  But  from  the  men 
a  certain  amount  of  manual  labor  about  the 
island  was  exacted  upon  penalty  of  having  the 
pocket-money  withheld.  From  the  adminis- 
trative point  of  view  this  had  seemed  an  easy 
solution  for  the  difficult  problem  of  getting 
adequate  labor  in  an  isolated  place  inhabited 
largely  by  the  victims  of  a  dread  disease.  But 
the  men  patients  took  vigorous  exception  to 
this  form  of  compulsory  labor  and  finally  made 
complaint  about  it  to  the  Philippine  Govern- 
ment. An  investigation  into  the  unrest  at  the 
leper  colony  was  instituted  and  the  Secretary 
of  the  Interior  visited  the  island  and  heard  all 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

complaints  in  person.  As  a  result  of  his  study 
the  system  of  gratuities  for  the  men  was  wiped 
out.  And  the  necessary  work  on  the  island 
was  paid  for  at  an  agreed  rate  which,  it  ap- 
peared later,  was  less  than  the  previous  gratu- 
ity. Nevertheless,  the  men  found  the  new 
system  preferable;  there  was  no  more  com- 
plaint; the  necessary  work  was  done;  the  men 
who  were  inclined  to  work  received  their 
weekly  stipends  and  the  others  did  not.  But 
from  that  day  to  the  present,  trouble  on  this 
score  has  been  unheard  of. 

This  is  a  true  story  of  the  instincts  in  indus- 
try. It  illustrates  how  a  practical  apprecia- 
tion of  the  deep-seated  characteristics  of  hu- 
man beings  sheds  light  on  actual  issues.  The 
tendencies  to  self-assertion  which  are  more  or 
less  strong  in  all  people  had  prompted  these 
men  to  rebel  at  a  condition  of  what  they  con- 
ceived to  be  compulsory  labor.  Their  desire 
for  self-direction  and  for  self-expression  in  their 
work  was  thwarted  and  an  unhappy  state  of 
mind  resulted.  The  Secretary  of  the  Interior, 
conscious  of  unsoundness  in  the  situation,  pro- 
ceeded in  a  way  calculated  to  remove  the  cause 

2 


WHAT  ARE  THE  INSTINCTS? 

of  the  trouble ;  and  by  an  intelligent  handling 
of  the  question  of  work  in  its  relation  to  pay, 
he  recognized  and  dignified  the  claims  of  hu- 
man nature  while  at  the  same  time  meeting 
the  obvious  demand  for  a  supply  of  labor. 

We  have  here  a  man  responsible  for  the 
direction  of  other  men.  We  have  a  correct  per- 
ception of  the  way  to  handle  a  delicate  (if 
comparatively  simple)  human  situation.  It  is 
highly  doubtful  whether  the  Secretary  con- 
sciously undertook  any  elaborate  analysis  to 
discover  what  instincts  had  been  repressed,  or 
made  any  reasoned  reference  to  a  formulated 
conception  of  human  nature  and  its  demands. 
But  it  still  is  true  that  he  acted  wisely  because 
his  action  did  square  with  the  facts  of  the  men- 
tal life  and  structure  of  human  beings.  If,  in 
addition  to  acting  shrewdly  because  of  native 
common  sense,  the  Secretary  had  had  in  the 
back  of  his  mind  a  fairly  clear  idea  of  the  in- 
stinctive desires  and  emotional  characteristics 
of  people,  his  decisions  might  have  been  uni- 
formly wise  and  effective  in  handling  similar 
questions. 
.    Most  leaders  of  men  are  natively  shrewd  in 

3 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

dealings  with  their  fellows.  But  they  would, 
like  this  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  profit  by  a 
more  graphic  knowledge  of  human  nature.  Now 
they  consult  a  knowledge  of  people's  reactions 
gained  through  long  personal  experience.  They 
might,  I  should  like  to  show  in  this  book,  con- 
sult a  wider  knowledge,  refer  their  problems 
to  a  body  of  fairly  stable  facts  and  inferences, 
which  promises  to  throw  light  on  conduct  and 
motive.  This  method  of  approach,  which  sees 
conduct  in  terms  of  the  inherent  dispositions 
of  human  nature,  is  immensely  suggestive  and 
illuminating.  We  can,  I  believe,  come  to  a 
profound  understanding  of  the  elements  of  the 
labor  problem  from  this  angle  of  vision,  —  an 
understanding  made  possible  by  increasing 
knowledge  about  the  working  of  the  human 
mind. 

Human  behavior  ranges  in  its  complexity 
from  the  simple  reflexes  of  the  physical  organ- 
ism to  elaborate  courses  of  conduct  planned 
out  long  in  advance  of  the  performance.  Be- 
tween these  extremes  we  find  conduct  of  every 
degree  of  deliberate  control  and  self-direction. 
Given  this  possible  range  for  behavior,  the 

4 


WHAT  ARE  THE  INSTINCTS? 

problem  is  to  get  a  sense  for  that  type  of  activ- 
ity which  is  most  prevalent.  We  want  to  know 
the  dominant  characteristics,  the  normally 
prevailing  influences  which  are  helping  to 
shape  the  action  of  ordinary  people  under  rep- 
resentative conditions.  That  is  why  I  am 
here  considering  the  relations  of  instinct  to 
conduct.  For  it  is  the  instincts,  I  believe  we 
shall  find,  that  have  as  much  to  do  in  the  long 
run  with  the  determination  of  people's  con- 
duct as  any  other  single  factor.  That  is  not  to 
say  that  instinct  exercises  exclusive  control  in 
behavior.  By  no  means  —  unless  the  word 
** instinct**  be  applied  in  a  loose  and  uncritical 
way.  Scientifically,  as  we  shall  presently  see 
in  defining  the  word,  instincts  are  only  those 
forces  in  our  mental  life  which  appear  to  have 
a  deep-rooted  basis  in  the  nervous  structure 
of  the  individual  and  the  race.  It  is,  indeed, 
because  instinctive  behavior  has  this  univer- 
sal quality  —  because  the  instinctive  endow- 
ments of  men  as  *' domesticated  higher  mam- 
mals" are  inherently  and  broadly  speaking 
identical  the  world  over  —  that  an  under- 
standing of  the  place  of  instinct  in  the  initia- 

5 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

tion  of  human  conduct  is  so  important.  If  we 
can  visualize  the  part  that  instincts,  singly  and 
in  combination,  are  playing  day  by  day  in  the 
affairs  of  men,  we  shall  have  gone  a  long  way 
toward  a  knowledge  of  the  inner  reason  for  the 
vast  majority  of  human  events. 

We  shall  require  for  this  task  a  preliminary 
statement  of  the  nature  of  instinct  and  of  the 
more  or  less  simple  elements  into  which  for  pur- 
poses of  analysis  the  instinctive  equipment  of 
human  beings  may  be  divided.  These  are  needed 
in  order  not  only  to  make  more  easy  the  work 
of  interpreting  conduct,  but  also  to  put  us  on 
our  guard  against  certain  popular  assumptions 
which  are  in  danger  of  creeping  in  and  leading 
to  conclusions  at  variance  with  the  facts.  We 
must  not,  for  example,  assume  that  conduct  is 
the  manifestation  of  a  pure  and  uncomplicated 
instinct;  that  instincts  dictate  and  control  con- 
duct to  the  exclusion  of  all  other  factors ;  that 
the  promptings  of  instinct  offer  a  safe  guide 
to  conduct;  or  that  the  full  satisfaction  of  an 
instinct  is  either  necessary  or  desirable. 

That  these  assumptions  are  inadequate  and 
inaccurate  will  be  seen  only  when  "instinct" 

6 


WHAT  ARE  THE  INSTINCTS? 

IS  defined  and  its  manifestations  illustrated. 
For  scientific  purposes  the  word  is  narrowly 
limited  in  content  and  application.  First, 
therefore,  I  shall  avail  myself  of  two  accredited 
definitions,  which  supplement  each  other  most 
helpfully:  — 

We  may  define  an  instinct  as  an  inherited  or 
innate  psycho-physical  disposition  which  deter- 
mines its  possessor  to  perceive,  and  to  pay  atten- 
tion to,  objects  of  a  certain  class,  to  experience 
an  emotional  excitement  of  a  particular  quality 
upon  perceiving  such  an  object,  and  to  act  In  re- 
gard to  it  in  a  particular  manner,  or,  at  least,  to 
experience  an  impulse  to  such  action.^ 

Instinctive  behavior  comprises  those  complex 
groups  of  coordinated  acts  which,  though  they 
contribute  to  experience,  are,  on  their  first  oc- 
currence, not  determined  by  Individual  experi- 
ence, which  are  adaptive  and  tend  to  the  well- 
being  of  the  Individual  and  the  preservation  of 
the  race;  which  are  due  to  the  cooperation  of  ex- 
ternal and  Internal  stimuli;  which  are  similarly 
performed  by  all  members  of  the  same  more  or 
less  restricted  group  of  animals;  but  which  are 
subject  to  variation  and  to  subsequent  modifica- 
tion under  the  guidance  of  individual  experience.^ 

^  See  William  McDougall,  An  Introduction  to  Social 
Psychology,  p.  29. 

^  See  C.  L.  Morgan,  on  "Instinct,"  Encyclopedia 
Britannica  (iith  Ed.),  vol.  xiv,  p.  648. 

7 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

The  essential  points  in  these  definitions  are 
almost  identical.  They  both  agree  that  the 
individual  is  born  with  certain  fairly  pro- 
nounced dispositions  or  tendencies.  These  tend- 
encies are  variable;  they  are  adaptive;  they 
are  held  in  check  by  the  desire  for  preserva- 
tion. In  other  words,  the  biological  economy, 
instead  of  requiring  each  organism  to  learn 
anew  the  whole  wide  range  of  experience 
which  is  safe  and  has  ** existential  value,"  (to 
borrow  James's  phrase,)  endows  each  organism 
with  a  strongly  compelling  urge  to  activities 
which  contribute  to  survival.  We  speak  loosely 
of  an  instinct  of  self-preservation.  In  fact, 
each  instinct's  raison  d'etre  is  to  protect,  con- 
serve, and  perpetuate  the  individual  or  the 
species.  If  this  be  true,  the  central  fact  is  not 
the  individual  instinct,  but  rather  the  strength 
of  the  tendency  to  survival.  So  that  specific 
instincts,  while  tending  with  differing  inten- 
sity from  time  to  time  to  usurp  a  leading  role 
in  people's  lives,  are  normally  held  in  check 
and  counterbalanced  not  only  by  other  in- 
stincts, but  by  an  imperious  will  to  live. 

Understanding  of  this  truth  is  vital  to  a  clear 


WHAT  ARE  THE  INSTINCTS? 

conception  of  the  widely  varying  influences 
which  different  instincts  exert  on  individuals 
and  groups  at  different  times.  No  less  neces- 
sary to  this  understanding  is  an  appreciation 
of  two  other  universal  tendencies  which  most 
psychologists  agree  in  omitting  from  their  lists 
of  instincts,  but  which  play  a  considerable 
part  in  determining  conduct.  The  tendency 
to  do  what  we  see  others  doing  —  suggesti- 
bility or  imitativeness  —  has  always  to  be 
reckoned  with  as  a  modifying  force.  And  the 
tendency  to  act  in  habitual  ways,  along  lines 
of  least  resistance,  because  the  individual  has 
acted  that  way  before  and  a  "brain  path"  is 
already  formed  —  this  is, a  distinctly  qualify- 
ing factor  in  behavior.  We  have  always  to 
remember,  in  short,  that  tendencies  to  act 
safely,  to  act  in  line  with  strong  suggestions 
and  in  line  with  previous  actions,  are  at  work 
to  modify  the  dictates  of  instinct,  and  to  over- 
throw any  calculations  based  on  the  assump- 
tion that  **pure  instinct'*  is  ever  in  the  saddle. 
What  specific  instincts  are  there,  then,  which 
may  have  a  causal  relation  to  conduct  in  in- 
dustry?  Unfortunately  there  is  no  complete 

9 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY ' 

agreement  among  scholars  as  to  the  number 
and  character  of  the  instincts,  and  it  is  no  easy 
matter  to  adopt  a  terminology  which  is  not 
open  to  the  charge  of  inaccuracy  from  some 
quarter.  In  this  situation,  devoted  as  the  pres- 
ent study  is  to  the  practical  purpose  of  seeing 
how  facts  about  a  certain  aspect  of  human  na- 
ture throw  light  upon  people's  conduct,  I  can 
only  do  my  best  to  steer  a  middle  road  be- 
tween the  ultra-scientific  and  the  ultra-popular. 
I  am,  in  short,  less  interested  in  the  names 
of  mental  phenomena  than  in  the  facts  behind 
those  names.  And  we  do  find  to-day  a  fairly 
universal  agreement  upon  the  general  nature 
of  those  facts.  For  the  purpose  in  hand  I  shall, 
therefore,  name  the  instincts  in  accordance 
with  the  trend  generally  manifested  in  recent 
psychological  literature.^  The  instincts  whose 

^  See  in  this  connection:  William  James,  Principles 
of  Psychology,  vol.  ii,  chap,  xxiv;  William  McDougall, 
Social  Psychology;  Maurice  Parmelee,  The  Science  of 
Human  Behavior;  Graham  W^allas,  The  Great  Society, 
chaps,  i-x;  William  Trotter,  Instincts  of  the  Herd  in 
Peace  and  War;  Thorstein  Veblen,  The  Instinct  of 
Workmanship,  especially  the  Introduction;  Edward 
L.  Thorndike,  The  Original  Nature  of  Man  (vol.  i  in 
Educational  Psychology)  ;Wcs\ey  C.  Mitchell,  ""Human 

lO 


WHAT  ARE  THE  INSTINCTS? 

functioning  throw  light  upon  human  behavior 
as  it  is  revealed  in  industry  are  (i)  the  parental 
instinct,  (2)  the  sex  instinct,  (3)  the  instinct 
of  workmanship,  (4)  the  instinct  of  acquisi-, 
tiveness,  (5)  the  instinct  of  self-assertion, 
(6)  the  instinct  of  self-abasement,  (7)  the  herd 
instinct,  (8)  the  instinct  of  pugnacity,  (9)  the 
play  impulse,  (10)  the  instinct  of  curiosity. 
Since  we  are  less  concerned  with  the  consti- 
tuent nature  of  these  impulses  than  with  the 
character  of  the  behavior  to  which  they 
prompt,  it  is  irrelevant  to  discuss  whether 
certain  of  them  are  or  are  not  reduced  to  their 
simplest  terms.  Scholars  may  decide  that  the 
impulse  to  workmanship  is  only  a  specific 
manifestation  of  the  instinct  of  self-assertion 
or  that  the  herding  tendency  is  a  complex 
of  the  pugnacious,  parental,  and  some  other 
instincts.  Their  decisions  will  affect  only 
slightly  the  validity  of  the  conclusions  reached 
by  such  studies  as  this.  My  aim  is  to  esti- 
mate the  influences    exerted  in  industry  by 

Behavior  and  Economics,"  Quarterly  Journal  of  Eco- 
nomics, November  1915;  C.  G.  Jung,  The  Theory  of 
Psycho-Analysis ;  I.  I.  Metchnikoff,  The  Nature  of 
Man. 

II 


y 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

widely  acknowledged  constitutent  elements  of 
human  nature,  —  not  to  subject  those  ele- 
ments to  more  refined  analysis. 

The  order  in  which  the  instincts  have  been 
listed  and  will  be  discussed  indicates  no  opin- 
ion as  to  their  relative  importance.  The  rela- 
tive strength  of  instinctive  responses  neces- 
sarily varies  from  group  to  group  and  from 
individual  to  individual  depending  on  many 
factors  which  it  will  eventually  be  necessary 
to  consider. 

Armed  with  this  brief  outline  of  the  nature 
of  instinct  and  of  the  names  of  our  fundamental 
tendencies,  we  can  proceed  to  consider  whether 
or  not  under  scrutiny  the  conduct  of  people 
tends  to  become  more  intelligible  and  perhaps 
more  susceptible  to  wise  control  than  is  now 
the  case.  Only  one  further  qualification  is 
necessary  before  undertaking  this  major  in- 
quiry. The  foregoing  paragraphs  have  as- 
sumed an  identity  between  ''human  nature" 
and  the  sum  of  our  instinctive  endowments. 
This  is  not  wholly  accurate.  Figuring  in  hu- 
man nature  are  to  be  found  "reflexes"  and 
** tendencies";  to  say  nothing  of  the  fact  that 

12 


WHAT  ARE  THE  INSTINCTS? 

differences  of  race,  climate,  and  civilization 
(to  name  only  three)  may  so  modify  human 
organisms  as  to  cause  radical  differences  in 
what  is  in  substance  our  "unchanging  and 
inherent'*  human  nature.  The  present  dis- 
cussion, as  its  name  implies,  is  attempting  to 
discuss  only  the  working-out  of  the  instincts 
in  industry.  It  has  not  attempted  that  im- 
mensely needed  exposition  of  human  nature 
in  our  economic  life  which  will  do  justice  to 
the  complexities  of  the  problems  of  contact  and 
adjustment  between  individuals  and  groups. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  PARENTAL  INSTINCT 

The  conduct  prompted  by  the  parental  in- 
stinct is  calculated  to  further  the  existence  and 
happiness  of  one's  immediate  family.  We  in- 
vest liberally  in  the  well-being  of  those  closest 
to  us  —  an  investment  of  time,  thought,  and 
personality  —  until  they  are  literally  **our 
own,"  part  and  parcel  of  our  beings.  Parents, 
wife,  and  children  become  an  extension  of  a 
man's  self,  and  his  instinctive  desire  for  sur- 
vival, mastery,  and  acquisition  are  naturally 
extended  to  include  participation  by  his  family 
in  his  own  satisfactions. 

It  is  illuminating  to  see  in  what  contrary 
ways  this  desire  to  provide  for  one 's  own  can 
express  itself.  There  are  South  European  peas- 
ants who  will  not  emigrate  to  America  until 
they  can  come  all  together  as  a  family;  and 
actuated  by  the  same  motives  there  are  those 
who  will  not  allow  their  families  to  brave  the 
uncertainties  of  the  trans-Atlantic  trip  until 

14 


THE  PARENTAL  INSTINCT 

they  have  gone  ahead  and  established  them- 
selves in  comfort  in  the  new  world.  The  woman 
who  will  not  enter  the  mills,  because  her  chil- 
dren  will  be  left  continually  in  the  street  un* 
cared  for  and  without  a  home,  is  prompted  by 
the  same  impulse  as  is  the  operative  who  ac- 
companies her  husband  to  work  in  order  to 
increase  the  family  income  and  thus  provide  a 
better  home.  Unfortunately  the  mill-owners 
have  themselves  taken  a  hand  in  making  the 
latter  expression  of  the  parental  instinct  the 
necessary  one.  And  the  idea  is  now  well  estab- 
lished in  our  Northern  textile  cities  that  wages 
will  be  paid,  not  on  a  family,  but  on  an  indi- 
vidual, basis  —  on  the  assumption  that  all 
adult  members  of  the  family  will  work  to  bring 
in  sufficient  weekly  income  for  the  family.  It  is 
this  same  prompting  which  makes  the  low-paid 
pregnant  mother  conceal  her  condition  and 
keep  at  the  loom  or  spindles  until  she  is  sent 
home  by  the  overseer  only  a  few  days  or  weeks 
before  her  confinement.  The  parental  desire  is 
there ;  the  mother  is  anxious  to  provide  all  she 
can  in  advance  of  the  child's  coming,  and  her 
very  zeal  is  in  danger  of  defeating  its  own  ends. 

IS 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

For  we  know  only  too  well  the  abnormally 
high  death-rate  of  babies  in  mill  towns  where 
the  mothers  go  out  to  work. 

The  same  diversity  of  behavior  is  to  be  seen 
in  connection  with  the  reactions  of  workers 
to  strikes.  Men  have  again  and  again  refused 
to  join  or  sanction  a  strike,  or  having  joined, 
they  have  abandoned  it,  because  they  could 
not  bear  to  see  their  families  even  temporarily 
deprived  of  their  meager  means  of  support. 
This  was  patently  true  in  the  New  York  street- 
railway  strike  in  19 16  where,  because  of  tac- 
tics on  the  part  of  the  labor  leaders  which  the 
public  believed  to  be  unfair,  public  support  of 
the  strike  was  withdrawn  and  the  men  were 
left  to  continue  a  nominal  strike  and  face 
starvation,  or  to  return  to  work  and  acknowl- 
edge defeat.  Faced  with  these  alternatives 
most  of  the  men  chose  to  return  to  work  and 
provide  for  their  families  —  and  the  strike  was 
lost.  The  brutality  of  the  conflict  in  cases  of 
this  sort  may  become  acute.  In  another  large 
city,  during  a  recent  street-car  strike,  strike- 
breakers were  imported  and  trained.  The 
strike  wore  on  for  several  months  and  when  a 

16 


THE  PARENTAL  INSTINCT 

settlement  was  finally  effected  there  were  over 
four  hundred  former  employees  for  whom  the 
transit  company  could  find  no  place  and  v/ho 
had  in  consequence  to  turn  elsewhere  for  em- 
ployment and  subsistence.  Here  again  in  the 
complex  of  current  economic  forces  a  legiti- 
mate and  necessary  individual  impulse  and 
group  agitation  for  better  wages  led  to  results 
which,  temporarily  at  least,  were  disastrous  to 
the  participants.  Obedience  to  instinct  alone 
did  not  bring  the  desired  benefits. 

In  his  *' Strife"  Mr.  Galsworthy  has  with 
classic  restraint  set  forth  the  universal  con- 
flict and  the  anguish  to  which  the  intrusion 
of  the  alternatives  of  loyalty  to  family  or  to 
fellow- workers  give  rise.  Readers  of  that  play 
will  remember  the  figure  of  Roberts,  leader  of 
the  men,  making  his  valiant  speech  to  the  strik- 
ers "in  the  gray,  fading  light"  of  a  winter  after- 
noon. "T  is  not  for  this  little  moment  of 
time,"  he  is  saying,  "we're  fighting  not  for 
ourselves,  our  own  little  bodies,  and  their  wants, 
't  is  for  all  those  that  come  after  throughout 
all  time. ...  If  we  can  shake  that  white-faced 
monster  with  die  bloody  lips,  that  has  sucked 

17 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

the  life  out  of  ourselves,  our  wives  and  children, 
since  the  world  began.  If  we  have  not  the 
hearts  of  men  to  stand  against  it  breast  to 
breast ...  it  will  go  on  sucking  life;  and  we 
shall  stay  forever  what  we  are,  less  than  the 
very  dogs."  And  in  the  awed  silence,  as  the 
tragic  conclusion  to  his  plea,  comes  the  mes- 
sage, "Your  wife  is  dying";  and  he  knows  that 
his  supreme  choice  has  worn  to  death  the  frail 
woman  whom  he  loves. 

Workers  have  in  some  cases  reluctantly 
joined  a  strike  because  they  would  not  submit 
to  the  stigma  to  which  the  family  of  the  "  scab  " 
is  heir.  "It  is  no  use,"  says  one  trade-unionist, 
"playing  at  shuttlecock  in  this  important 
portion  of  our  social  life.  Either  mingle  with 
these  men  in  the  shaft,  as  you  do  in  every  other 
place,  or  let  them  be  ostracised  at  all  times  and 
in  every  place.  Regard  them  as  unfit  compan- 
ions for  yourselves  and  your  sons,  and  unfit 
husbands  for  your  daughters.  Let  them  be 
branded,  as  it  were,  with  the  curse  of  Cain,  as 
unfit  to  mingle  in  ordinary,  honest,  and  respect- 
able society.  Until  you  make  up  your  minds  to 
thus  completely  ostracize  these  goats  of  man- 

i8 


THE  PARENTAL  INSTINCT 

kind,  cease  to  complain  as  to  any  results  that 
may  arise  from  their  action."  ^  Such  ostracism 
for  one's  wife  and  the  indignities  which  one's 
children  must  undergo  at  the  taunting  hands 
of  the  neighbors'  children,  are,  even  if  only 
temporary,  enough  to  make  the  most  stolid 
individual  reflect  before  refusing  to  stand  by  his 
fellows. 

In  its  special  report  on  the  Bisbee,  Arizona, 
deportations,  the  President's  Mediation  Com- 
mission 2  said  that  **Many  of  those  who  went 
out  did  not  in  fact  believe  in  the  justice  of  the 
strike,  but  supported  it,  as  is  common  among 
working-men,  because  of  their  general  loyalty 
to  the  cause  represented  by  the  strikers  and 
their  refusal  to  be  regarded  in  their  own  esti- 
mation, as  well  as  in  the  minds  of  fellow- 
workers,  as  *  scabs.' "  ' 

Again,  other  workers  have  rushed  gladly 
into  action  at  a  strike  call  because  they  have 
been  taught  to  see  that  collective  action  gets 

^  Quoted  by  Sidney  and  Beatrice  Webb,  History  of 
Trade-Unionism,  p.  280. 

^  Report  of  President  Wilson^s  Mediation  CommiT- 
sion,  on  the  Bisbee,  Arizona,  deportations,  Novem- 
ber 6,  1917. 

19 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

results  which  means  more  food  and  clothing. 
Interesting  evidence  of  the  direct  action  which 
comes  when  this  idea  becomes  fixed,  not  only 
in  the  minds  of  the  workers,  but  of  their  fami- 
lies, is  seen  in  the  following  excerpt  from  a 
strike  story  in  the  Boston  Herald  of  February 
22,  1917:  — 

The  women's  demonstration  reached  a  climax 
in  the  riot  following  a  meeting  held  late  to-day. 
The  wives,  mothers,  and  daughters  of  the  strikers 
determined  to  march  In  a  body  to  the  refinery 
and  demand  that  the  concession  sought  by  the 
men  be  granted.  As  they  marched  through  the 
streets,  the  women  cried  that  they  were  starving. 

The  women  were  led  to  the  refinery  by  Mrs. 
Florence  S ,  thirty-three  years  old,  who  car- 
ried a  baby  in  her  arms,  as  she  shouted  encour- 
agement to  her  followers.  During  the  melee,  as 
the  police  were  about  to  open  fire  on  the  strikers 
who  ran  to  the  aid  of  their  women-folk,  a  patrol- 
man seized  Mrs.  S — —  and  dragged  her  and  the 
baby  to  safety.  She  was  arraigned  and  charged 
with  inciting  a  riot. 

As  the  striking  employees  ran  toward  the 
screaming  group  of  women,  police,  mounted  and 
on  foot,  flung  a  cordon  about  the  riot  zone.  Many 
of  the  missiles  struck  the  police,  who  began  firing 
into  the  group  of  strikers.  Scores  of  the  work- 
men and  police  were  hurt  by  flying  missiles. 

A  riot  call  brought  out  every  high  official  of 
20 


THE  PARENTAL  INSTINCT 

the  police  department  and  every  available  re- 
serve south  of  M Street  was  rushed  to  the 

refinery.   Superintendent  of  Police  R ordered 

the  closing  of  two  saloons  near  the  refinery.  Most 
of  the  women  in  the  riot  were  of  foreign  birth. 

This  quotation  well  illustrates  how  complex 
can  be  the  origins  of  a  course  of  conduct  which 
seems  simple  only  because  it  has  become  so 
familiar.  We  see  a  group  of  women  leaving  the 
quiet  routine  of  tenement  duties  to  help  their 
husbands  win  more  wages.  One  woman  (prob- 
ably for  want  of  another  place  to  leave  him) 
carries  her  baby  and  finds  herself,  after  her 
parental  passion  for  the  preservation  of  her 
child  has  abated,  arraigned  in  court.  The  men- 
folk come  to  rescue  the  women  from  the  hands 
of  the  police.  The  situation  is  complicated  by 
the  arrival  of  strike-breakers,  who  are  thor- 
oughly hated  by  the  strikers  for  their  anti-| 
social  behavior  in  striving  to  deprive  them  or! 
employment.  And  a  small  riot  is  precipitated 
in  which  primitive  impulses,  not  only  paren- 
tal, but  the  self-assertive,  pugnacious,  and 
herd  instincts  have  ample  opportunities  for 
expression. 

Those  who  followed  the  famous  Lawrence, 

21 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

Massachusetts,  strike  will  remember  the  at- 
tempts which  were  made  to  appeal  to  the 
public's  parental  feelings  by  transporting  the 
strikers'  children  to  homes  out  of  the  city 
where  they  might  be  adequately  cared  for 
during  the  strike.  The  managers  of  the  strike 
were  unwittingly  successful  in  this  project  be- 
cause of  the  dramatic,  unexpected,  and  appar- 
ently quite  unwarranted,  interference  of  the 
police  at  the  railroad  station  where  the  chil- 
dren were  to  entrain.  One  party  of  children 
was  not  allowed  to  leave  the  city;  and  the 
publicity  which  this  incident  obtained  and  the 
opportunity  which  it  afforded  to  call  attention 
to  the  impoverished  condition  of  the  strikers' 
children,  both  helped  greatly  to  strengthen  the 
workers'  cause  in  the  public  eye.  The  appeal 
was  clearly  and  legitimately  to  the  ** heart  in- 
terest," which  is  the  man  in  the  street's  name 
for  interests  and  ties  of  home  and  family  which 
are  near  and  dear. 

There  is  a  statement  in  the  President's  Medi- 
ation Commission  Report  ^  that  in  the  Chi- 

^  Report  of  the  Presidents  Mediation  Commission 
to  the  President  oj  the  United  States,  p.  i6.  ' 

22 


THE  PARENTAL  INSTINCT 

cago  packing  situation  **the  claim  was  made, 
and  validly  made,  that  the  wage  scales,  par- 
ticularly for  the  great  body  of  unskilled  work- 
ers, were  inadequate  in  view  of  the  increased 
cost  of  living.**  This  maladjustment  of  wages 
to  living  costs  has  been  a  familiar  attendant 
of  the  war  situation  and  it  has  uniformly 
caused  unrest.  Nor  should  this  cause  surprise. 
The  high  cost  of  living  threatens  family  life 
at  its  very  roots.  Perhaps  the  most  moving 
bit  of  testimony  offered  before  the  Shipbuild- 
ing Labor  Adjustment  Board  at  its  Washing- 
ton hearings  was  the  faltering  utterance  of  a 
gray-haired  boiler-maker.  **It's  awful  hard,'* 
he  said,  '*to  sit  down  to  a  good  meal  of  meat 
and  potato  like  what  I  have  to  eat  to  be  able 
to  work,  and  have  the  wife  and  the  kids  eat 
bread  and  tea.  And  the  kids  look  at  you  with 
hungry  eyes  and  try  not  to  complain.**  The 
man  realized  the  deep  instinctive  necessity 
for  an  income  that  would  yield  food  enough 
for  his  entire  family.  He  pointed  to  the  fact 
that  the  cost-of-living  argument  in  wage  con- 
troversies is  psychologically  basic,  is  biologi- 
cally unanswerable. 

23 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

It  is  this  fact  which  gives  such  great  value 
to  the  declaration  of  Judge  Alschuler  in  the 
packing  industry  dispute,  that  no  wages  should 
be  paid  below  a  reasonable  ** comfort"  mini- 
mum; and  to  the  announcement  by  the  Taft- 
Walsh  Labor  Board  that  it  favors  as  a  na- 
tional policy  the  payment  of  wages  which 
cover  the  costs  of  subsistence. 

Yet  the  demand  for  more  money  has,  as  the 

Times  Annalist  ^  points  out,  another  aspect. 

The  worker,  it  says  — 

wants  more  than  necessities.  He  wants  the  luxu- 
ries he  believes  the  employer  is  enjoying  as  a  re- 
sult of  the  war.  Even  though  his  wages  keep 
pace  with  the  cost  of  living,  he  feels  he  is  no  bet- 
ter off  than  he  would  be  with  lower  wages  and  a 
decreased  living  cost.  In  other  words,  his  larger 
wages  represent  no  profit  which  may  be  put  aside 
as  he  believes  the  employer  is  putting  aside  mil- 
lions, and,  in  many  cases,  a  bonus  only  tends  to 
increase  the  feeling  because  the  worker  often 
regards  the  bonus  as  nothing  more  than  an  at- 
tempt to  dodge  a  demand  for  a  well-deserved 
wage  increase,  or  else,  as  an  admission  on  the  part 
of  the  employer  that  he  is  getting  more  out  of 
his  labor  than  is  his  legitimate  right. 

Unquestionably,  this  desire  for  something 
*  March  25,  1918.    . 
24 


THE  PARENTAL  INSTINCT 

in  the  pay  envelope  which  covers  more  than 
a  comfort  minimum  is  compounded  of  several 
motives.  But  second  to  none  in  importance 
is  the  motive  of  desiring  to  attain  status,  per- 
manence, security  and  respectability  for  one's 
family.  A  worthy  motive  surely,  and  one 
which  the  community  can  safely  build  on  far 
more  than  it  yet  has.  But  in  order  to  build  on  it 
the  community  must  be  at  pains  to  help  with 
the  provision  of  the  means  which  will  give  the 
instinct  a  chance  to  flourish. 

A  great  deal  of  the  working-man's  theory 
and  action  about  *' holding  down  a  job"  is 
not  readily  understood  by  the  public  because 
its  relations  to  his  instinctive  needs  in  general 
and  to  the  parental  desire  in  particular  is  ig- 
nored. There  is  a  strong  undercurrent  of  sym- 
pathy among  manual  workers  in  favor  of 
"making  work,"  "going  it  easy,"  limiting  the 
number  of  workers  at  a  job  or  craft,  and  op- 
posing the  application  of  machinery  to  jobs, 
which  has  its  roots  in  the  absolute  necessity 
of  having  a  job  if  one  is  to  live  and  give  one's 
family  a  living.  This  seems  very  simple  to  the 
worker,  even  if  as  a  matter  of  psychology  it 

25 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

is  quite  complex.  As  long  as  he  can  keep  the 
work  going,  he  has  a  job.  As  long  as  there  is 
a  job,  there  is  pay.  As  long  as  there  is  pay, 
there  is  sustenance  for  self  and  family. 

An  enlightening  answer  was  given  at  one 
of  the  Pacific  Coast  hearings  of  the  Shipbuild- 
ing Labor  Adjustment  Board  to  the  question 
of  a  member  of  the  board,  "Do  you  feel  that 
pay  or  the  wages  should  be  dependent  in  any 
way  on  the  fitness  of  the  man  who  gets  the 
wages?"  To  which  the  union  representative 
who  was  testifying  replied,  **  Above  the  mini- 
mum I  do.  I  believe  the  union  should  establish 
a  minimum  wage  according  to  the  circum- 
stances of  iiving,  but  it  is  entirely  optional  with 
the  employer  to  grade  his  men  according  to 
their  value  above  that  scale." 

The  relation  of  all  the  much-condemned 
"ca*canny"  policies  to  the  desire  for  adequate 
family  maintenance  is  direct  and  important. 
Indeed  the  immediacy  of  this  necessity  for 
holding  fast  one*s  job  goes  far, to  explain,  if 
I  may  anticipate,  why  the  instinct  of  work- 
manship is  suppressed  when  a  choice  comes 
between  doing  a  good  job  and  doing  a  job  at 

26 


THE  PARENTAL  INSTINCT 

the  rate  of  speed  the  employer  demands.  Con- 
fronted, as  vjhe  worker  often  believes  he  is, 
with  the  alternative  of  getting  quantity  (at 
the  expense  of  quality)  or  of  being  discharged 
as  a  slow  (if  careful)  worker,  the  choice  of 
quantity  put  through  in  ** slap-dash"  fashion 
is  inevitable,  since  this  choice  means  a  job  and 
a  living.  Workmanship  suffers  accordingly 
and  the  worker's  reputation  for  skill  is  ques- 
tioned, rather  than  the  adequacy  of  methods 
of  selecting  or  training  workers,  of  planning 
work  or  of  estimating  the  amount  of  good  work 
which  can  be  done  in  a  given  time. 

Robert  Tressal,  in  an  intimate  study  of  Eng- 
lish working-class  life,^  has  naively  "brought 
together  an  accumulation  of  illustrations  of 
this  whole  undercurrent  of  attitude  and  of  the 
conditions  which  cause  it.  His  entire  story  is 
a  veritable  source-book  of  specific  and  homely 
examples  of  how  this  and  other  instincts  oper- 
ate to  determine  conduct.  Nothing  could  bear 
clearer  testimony  than  does  his  narrative  to 
the  truth  of  my  thesis,  that  we  understand  the 

^  The  Ragged  Trousered  Philanthropists.  Stokes, 
New  York,  1914. 

.27 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

inwardness  of  events  and  enable  ourselves  to 
condition  the  circumstances  of  activity  only 
when  we  know  the  elements  of  human  motives 
and  desires. 

A  remarkably  shrewd  practical  application 
in  industrial  management  of  the  idea  that  the 
way  to  a  man's  heart  and  mind  is  through  his 
family  interest  and  parental  feeling  is  seen  in 
the  recent  institution  by  a  large  corporation 
of  a  ^* plant  mother."  This  ''mother"  is  sup- 
posed to  be  motherly  —  to  appeal  to  the  men's 
respect  and  feeling  for  the  maternal.  It  is  her 
duty,  using  this  motherly  disposition  and  atti- 
tude as  an  entering  wedge,  to  go  among  the 
men  and  help  to  straighten  out  their  troubles 
with  the  management.  And  one  of  the  most 
successful  weapons  of  appeal  with  her  is  said 
to  be  that  she  puts  employees'  problems  in 
family  terms.  For  example,  a  man  will  want 
to  quit  because  of  a  slight  ruction  with  a  fel- 
low-worker or  superior,  whereupon  she  will 
remind  him  that  his  little  Johnny  should  not 
be  forced  by  father's  unemployment  to  leave 
school  to  go  to  work  or  that  another  baby  is 
coming  in  a  couple  of  months  and  that  he 

28 


THE  PARENTAL  INSTINCT 

mustn't  cause  anxiety  to  "the  wife."  Upon 
the  legitimacy  of  this  type  of  appeal  it  is  im- 
possible to  generalize;  but  it  obviously  has  its 
limits  and  its  dangers.  Its  interest  for  us  lies 
simply  in  the  fact  that  this  method  of  human 
approach  is  consciously  used  to  effect  desired 
ends  in  industry  and  that  its  use  brings  results. 
This  particular  '*  plant  mother,"  I  am  told, 
has  been  instrumental  in  reducing  the  labor 
turnover  to  an  astonishing  extent. 

Another  type  of  behavior  which  results  from 
a  combination  of  family  pride  with  self-asser- 
tion and  the  desire  to  possess,  is  seen  in  the 
the  struggle,  familiar  in  working-class  neigh- 
borhoods, to  keep  one's  living  standards  on  a 
par  with  and  preferably  superior  to  those  of 
one's  neighbors.  The  leisure  class  has  no  cor- 
ner on  conspicuous  waste.  Bleak,  unused  front 
parlors  with  crayon  portraits  of  the  father  and 
mother  at  the  time  of  marriage;  the  boasted 
size  of  the  family  subscription  to  the  church- 
building  fund;  the  well-concealed  deprivation 
as  a  result  of  which  the  oldest  daughter  is  sent 
to  business  college;  —  these  are  all  evidences 
of  a  deep  family  feeling  registering  itself  in  the 

29 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY' 

way  best  calculated  to  impress  the  neighbors 
and  advance  the  family  status.  The  same 
motive  is  at  work  to  prevent  the  wife  of  the 
regular  city  employee  at  $2.50  a  day  from 
having  dealings  with  the  wife  of  the  casual  day 
laborer  who  earns  but  $i  a  day.  English  muni- 
tion workers  are  not  renowned  for  their  love 
of  music  or  ability  to  play  the  piano.  Yet,  "I 
was  told,"  says  a  writer  in  the  Manchester 
Guardian^  "that  in  this  purely  working-class 
town  the  sellers  of  pianos  on  the  hire  system 
are  doing  the  trade  of  their  lives.  The  piano, 
of  course,  is  the  token  of  respectability  in 
every  artisan  household."  And  as  such  its 
possession  satisfies  family  pride  and  connotes 
prosperity  and  distinction. 

The  movement  for  continuation  schools  and 
a  more  thoroughly  efficient  industrial  educa- 
tion in  a  Massachusetts  mill  city  was  blocked 
by  trade-union  officials  who  said  that  they 
were  not  interested  in  industrial  training  for 
their  children,  but  preferred  them  to  study 
piano,  drawing,  and  millinery.  And  it  is  a  com- 
monplace of  the  New  England  textile  cities, 
that  English,  Scotch,  and  Irish  operatives  will 

30 


THE  PARENTAI.  INSTINCT 

not  send  their  children  to  work  in  the  mills 
where  they  have  spent  their  own  restricted 
lives.  The  result  is  that  the  children  become 
clerks  in  the  stores  and  banks,  and,  impelled 
by  family  ambition,  are  postponing  marriage 
because  they  cannot  afford  to  keep  a  family 
at  the  standard  of  living  they  believe  neces- 
sary. The  strength  of  the  parental  desire  may, 
indeed,  become  a  grave  obstacle  to  being  a 
parent  if  a  person  is  doubtful  of  his  ability  to 
support  a  family  on  the  scale  which  he  knows 
is  necessary  for  its  proper  maintenance.  A 
desire  that  the  children  should  have  to  work 
less  hard  than  the  parents,  that  they  should 
have  greater  advantages,  that  their  standards 
of  living  should  be  advanced  —  this  can  be 
counted  upon  to  actuate  any  normal  work- 
ing-class parent  in  the  present  generation. 
The  strength  of  this  desire  is  adding  momen- 
tum of  daily  increasing  weight  to  the  demands 
of  disaffected  workers  for  better  terms  and 
less  arduous  conditions  of  employment,  and 
is  augmenting  incoherent  unrest  into  a  def- 
inite sense  that  labor  is  stunted,  thwarted, 
and  repressed  in  an  ill-organized  community. 

31 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

Come  what  may,  those  who  marry  and  have 
children,  or  those  who  intend  to  marry,  are 
declaring  in  one  way  or  another  an  imperious 
determination  to  provide  decently  for  their 
own.  In  a  new  sense  the  hand  that  rocks  the 
cradle  wills  to  rule  the  world ! 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  SEX  INSTINCT 

The  stubbornly  insistent  instinct  of  sex  is 
perhaps  less  directly  accountable  than  some 
others  for  conduct  immediately  associated 
with  industry.  But  the  effects  of  its  suppres- 
sion ramify  in  many  directions  with  the  result 
that  they  often  play  an  unsuspectedly  influ- 
ential part  in  industrial  problems. 

There  are,  first,  certain  definite  and  direct 
relations  between  industrial  practices  and  the 
promptings  of  sex  which  are  of  no  little  im- 
portance. There  are  industries  like  the  tex- 
tile, candy,  and  garment  manufacturing  where 
women  employed  by  male  foremen  or  employ- 
ers are  wholly  dependent  for  employment 
upon  the  pleasure  of  the  boss.  And  the  power 
over  a  girl's  destinies  which  this  situation  puts 
into  a  man's  hands  can  be  and  has  been 
abused.  In  New  York  dress-  and  waist-shops 
girls  have  actually  been  forced  to  strike  to 
put  a  stop  to  the  familiarities  of  a  "superior 
officer"  in  the  organization.  In  a  small  Massa- 

33 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

chusetts  town  it  was  found  to  be  an  estab- 
lished practice  for  the  superintendent  of  a  mill 
to  indulge  his  passions  at  the  expense  of  any 
of  his  giri  employees  who  were  at  all  anxious 
to  hold  their  jobs.  And  these  cases  might  be 
multiplied.  Where  a  man  can  prey  upon  giris 
sufficiently  under  cover  to  allow  his  intimida- 
tion to  become  complete,  he  can  have  his  way 
with  pitiful  ease. 

It  is  to  be  anticipated,  however,  that  as  the 
foreman's  power  to  hire  and  discharge  is  more 
and  more  frequently  transferred  to  a  central- 
ized employment  department,  abuses  from 
this  source  will  be  reduced.  An  interesting 
illustration  of  this  last  point  occurred  in  a 
factory  which  had  a  central  employing  office 
in  absolute  control  of  hiring  and  discharge. 
Many  of  the  workers,  who  had  previously 
been  in  a  mill  where  the  foreman  was  all-pow- 
erful, were  accustomed  to  present  him  with 
gifts  at  Easter  and  Christmas.  It  was  only 
with  some  difficulty  that  they  could  be  per- 
suaded that  at  the  new  factory  it  was  un- 
necessary to  continue  the  practice  of  bribing 
foremen  in  order  to  hold  their  jobs. 

34 


THE  SEX  INSTINCT 

The  administration  of  the  Munitions  Act  in 
England  brought  to  light  difficulties  in  which 
the  sex  motif  was  dominant.  The  Act,  before 
an  amendment  corrected  the  feature  in  ques- 
tion, required  employees  wishing  to  leave  a 
** controlled  establishment"  to  secure  a  ** leav- 
ing certificate,'*  the  granting  of  which  was  in 
the  hands  of  a  local  munitions  tribunal. 

A  number  of  the  women  applied  for  their  leav 
ing  certificates  on  the  ground  that  a  man  em- 
ployed also  on  the  night  shift  had  been  "rude" 
to  them.  Pleading  before  a  tribunal  when  the 
chairman  and  the  two  assessors  were  men,  this 
was  the  way  the  girls,  timid  and  reluctant  to 
state  exactly  what  had  occurred,  put  their  case. 
The  chairman  was  refusing  their  applications 
on  the  grounds  of  insufficient  evidence  when  a 
woman  official  of  the  Women's  Federation  .  .  . 
wrote  on  a  slip  of  paper  a  brief  account  of  what 
had  really  happened,  and  passed  it  up  to  the 
chairman.  He  was  profoundly  shocked,  and  after 
some  questioning  he  discovered  what  the  shy 
and  frightened  girls  had  really  been  subjected 
to  and  the  case  was  decided  in  their  favor.  ^ 

In  quite  a  different  direction  we  see  the  sex 
instinct,   probably  in  combination  with  the 

*  London  correspondent  to  National  Labor  Tribune. 
February  3,  1917. 

35 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

impulse  to  self-assertion,  prompting  factory 
and  store  girls  to  bedeck  themselves  in  rai- 
ment as  superficially  fine  as  it  is  fantastic. 
Fancy  shoes,  ostrich  plumes,  silk  stockings, 
and  thin  shirt-waists  —  these  are  some  of  the 
adornments  which  not  only  embellish  the  per- 
son, but  satisfy  the  starved  emotional  life  of 
the  working-girl.  To  attract  and  hold  the 
attention  of  the  male  must  always  be  a  legiti- 
mate and  dominant,  if  sometimes  unconscious, 
motive  of  the  female.  For  this  reason  the 
problem  of  getting  women-workers  —  especially 
the  j'^oung  girls  —  to  wear  suitable  clothes  and 
adequate  protection  for  their  hair  in  machine- 
shop  work  is  a  formidable  one.  And  there  is 
no  solution  unless  some  form  of  costuming  and 
hair-dressing  is  discovered  which  the  girls  agree 
is  not  too  unbecoming. 

The  classic  truth  that  woman's  beauty 
arouses  the  interest  and  attention  of  men  is 
capitalized  in  business  in  all  sorts  of  ways. 
The  dress  models  of  the  wholesale  clothing 
shops  of  New  York  are  undoubtedly  an  enor- 
mously important  and  determining  factor  in 
the   sale   of  women's   dresses.    These   girls, 

36 


THE  SEX  INSTINCT 

chosen  for  their  good  figures  and  attractive 
appearance,  walk  about  in  front  of  the  buyer 
begowned  in  the  latest  models,  and  their 
method  of  presentation  may  make  or  mar  2 
sale.  Similarly  in  other  types  of  salesmanship, 
the  beauty  of  the  saleslady  is  an  established 
and  demanded  part  of  the  purchase.  This  is 
true  in  certain  candy  shops  and  restaurants. 
Indeed,  there  is  one  famous  eating-house  in 
New  England  which  has  achieved  its  reputa- 
tion and  popularity  upon  two  items  —  its 
mince  pie  and  the  good  looks  of  its  waitresses. 
Men  will  stand-in  line  waiting  to  be  served 
by  **my  waitress"  rather  than  go  to  another 
table  where  service  might  be  more  immediately 
obtained.  These  instances,  it  should  be  em- 
phasized, are  not  cited  in  any  invidious  spirit. 
It  is  only  important  that  we  have  consciously 
before  us  the  psychological  facts  of  the  situa- 
tion. We  cannot  and  should  not  attempt 
necessarily  to  remove  sex  interest  from  in- 
dustrial life.  But  we  should  proceed  in  what- 
ever direction  we  take  with  open  eyes,  with 
full  knowledge  of  the  risks  and  dangers  which 
we  are  setting  in  people's  way.  It  is  probablfe 

37 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

that  as  our  knowledge  of  human  nature  be- 
comes more  extensive  and  mature,  this  "ex- 
ploitation of  sex,"  which  is  an  uncontested 
fact  of  contemporary  industry,  will  serve  ends 
which  are  joyous,  social,  and  beautiful  rather 
than  selfish,  ugly,  and  sinister.  Advance  in 
this  direction  waits  upon  a  more  profound 
understanding  of  the  relation  of  sex  to  the 
creative  activities  of  life. 

The  flowering  of  the  sex  instinct  is  frequently 
accompanied,  at  least  for  a  time,  by  a  height- 
ened susceptibility  to  beautiful  things  and  by 
a  powerful  urge  to  creative  and  serviceable 
activity.  Energy  surges  vigorously  and  exu- 
berantly in  the  springtime  of  life,  and  in  some 
form  or  other  this  exuberance  must  work  it- 
self out.  This  has  all  been  said  many,  many 
times,  and  yet  our  civilization  continues  with 
complete  perversity  to  recruit  the  great  ma- 
jority of  boys  and  girls  from  fourteen  to 
twenty  years  old  for  work  in  offices  and  fac- 
tories where  the  required  pursuits  are  restrictive 
and  repressive.  Little  positive  and  constructive 
material  is  presented  to  challenge  and  engage 
the  mind  of  youth.  The  stuff  of  which  dreams 

38 


THE  SEX  INSTINCT 

are  made  and  with  which  yearnings  are  satis- 
fied is  not  there.  In  this  critical,  romantic 
period  most  work  is  emotionally  unsatisfying, 
unbeautiful,  and  apparently  purposeless. 

The  results  can  be  easily  forecast.  The 
thoughts  and  activities  of  the  young  man  or 
woman  are  a  prey  to  the  most  insistent,  that 
is  the  most  instinctive,  desires.^  Hypersensi- 
tive concern  for  sex  and  all  its  demands  be- 
comes the  almost  inevitable  condition.  The 
all  but  pornographic  appeal  of  the  burlesque 
shows  which  circuit  through  manufacturing 
cities  is  made  to  an  emotionally  impoverished 
audience,  largely  of  men,  who  have  never  been 
taught  where  to  look  for  beauty  and  never 
given  a  chance  to  satisfy  the  dumb,  expansive 
desires  of  youth. 

*  For  extensive  and  discerning  accounts  of  the  rela- 
tion of  sex  to  working-class  life  see  Jane  Addams, 
Spirit  of  Youth  in  the  City  Streets;  Woods  and  Ken- 
nedy, Young  Working  Girls;  Mary  K.  Simkhovitch, 
The  City  Workers^  World.  See  also  the  testimony  re- 
garding the  sex  life  of  the  "California  Casual,"  by 
Carleton  H.  Parker,  in  the  Quarterly  Journal  of  EcO' 
nomics,  November,  1915:  ".  .  .  In  the  California 
lumber  camps  a  sex  perversion  within  the  entire  group 
is  as  developed  and  recognized  as  the  well-known 
similar  practice  in  prisons  and  reformatories." 

39 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

It  was  my  enlightening  duty  to  attend  reg- 
ularly for  some  weeks  the  shows  at  one  of  the 
most  notorious  burlesque  houses  in  New  Eng- 
land. The  impression  left  by  those  potpourris 
of  music,  color,  glitter,  humor,  legs,  and  lewd- 
ness is  most  instructive.  For  it  was  clearly 
true  that  while  the  vulgarity  was  universally 
enjoyed  and  even  rolled  as  a  sweet  morsel 
under  the  tongue,  the  central  values  of  the 
show  were  sound.  It  was  ministering  to  legit- 
imate psychological  needs.  The  theater  af- 
forded a  spacious,  warm,  and  light  abiding 
place  after  the  narrow,  dingy  squalor  of  the 
tenements  next  door.  The  music,  although 
not  classic,  was  the  symphony  concert  of  the 
poor.  There  were  bright  color,  pretty  modish 
frocks,  interesting  changes  of  scene,  and  a  thin 
thread  of  plot  to  tie  the  whole  together.  There 
was  hi6nor  —  largely  of  the  slap-stick  sort 
and  very  broad.  And  when  the  ingenue  came 
down  the  aisle  and  got  all  the  "  boys  "  to  whis- 
tling or  singing  one  of  the  popular  favorites, 
a  real  and  complete  emotional  release  and 
satisfaction  was  bestowed.  Truly,  it  is  hard 
to  be  censorious!  We  have  a  first  duty  of  un- 

40 


THE  SEX  INSTINCT 

derstanding.  And  the  life  of  the  tenement- 
dweller  is  not  to  be  understood  or  improved 
until  we  make  common  cause  with  his  essential 
humanness.  That  he  is  the  victim  of  an  over- 
whelming repression  is  the  central  fact  of  his 
emotional  life. 

Indeed,  the  sex  instinct  offers  familiar  illus- 
tration of  this  principle  which  seems  to  under- 
lie the  functioning  of  all  innate  tendencies, 
namely,  that  if  a  strong  instinct  is  thwarted 
and  the  energy  it  summons  is  not  turned  into 
other  satisfying  channels,  it  still  seeks  its  own 
satisfaction  with  increased  intensity  in  a  per- 
verted form  and  with  consequent  indiscretion. 
This  is  the  familiar  "suppressed  desire"  of  the 
Freudians.  On  the  other  hand,  that  there  is  a 
certain  choice  in  the  channels  of  instinctive 
expression,  a  real  diversity  of  possible  ways  for 
the  instincts  to  function,  is  a  recent  contribu- 
tion to  psychologicaftheory  which  in  its  broader 
outlines  has  gained  wide  acceptance.^ 

The  application  of  the  theory  to  other  in- 
stincts gives  such  fruitful  results  that  it  can 
constitute  for  the  present  a  tentative  working 
*  See  Jung,  The  Theory  of  Psycho-Analysis. 
41 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

hypothesis.  Conduct  which  might  otherwise 
appear  to  be  completely  capricious  and  mali- 
cious will  be  seen  to  be  the  perverted  outcome 
of  a  cruel  suppression  of  natural  tendencies 
when  viewed  as  tardy  satisfactions  of  imperious 
impulses.  And  acts  whose  violence  and  extrava- 
gance are  incomprehensible  can  be  understood 
as  the  inordinate  satisfaction  of  long  inhibited 
desires.  The  facts  of  suppression,  perversion, 
and  unrestrained  indulgence  may  appear  most 
obvious  in  connection  with  sex  phenomena. 
But  the  mental  conflicts,  the  unconscious  but 
carking  yearnings  for  expression,  the  brave 
effort  to  gain  an  outlet  in  one  direction  when 
another  is  hopelessly  blocked  —  these  are 
common  to  other  impulses  as  well.  In  fact 
the  current  industrial  unrest  is  due  in  great 
part  to  the  enormous  accumulation  of  sup- 
pression which  the  instincts  of  workers  have 
undergone  in  the  grim  effort  to  get  a  living. 

The  most  important  fact  about  the  relation 
of  sex  to  industry  has  already  been  suggested. 
We  must  become  sex-conscious  in  our  indus- 
trial dealings  —  conscious  of  the  place  and 
potency  of  sex,  not  in  a  smirking,  apologetic 

42 


THE  SEX  INSTINCT 

way,  but  conscious  of  it  as  an  essential  and 
essentially  sound  and  wholesome  constituent 
of  human  nature.  It  is  not  the  knowledge  of 
sex  matters  and  motives  that  need  alarm  us  so 
much  as  it  is  the  use  of  this  knowledge  for 
ulterior  and  hurtful  ends.  We  are  at  a  point 
in  our  dealings  with  affairs  ^f  sex  where  our 
salvation  is  not  in  stopping  halfway,  but  in 
going  on,  in  making  current  and  accepted  the 
fact  that  our  sex  life  is  not  an  evil  thing  and 
that  the  promptings  of  sex  are  not  vicious  and 
low  unless  they  are  deliberately  made  so.  And 
there  is  the  further  suggestion  which  any  inti- 
mate knowledge  of  the  grind  of  present-day 
industry  provokes,  namely,  that  the  creative 
and  expansive  desires  of  youth  furnish  a  fair 
and  valid  criterion  in  the  light  of  which  our 
productive  mechanism  is  to  be  judged  and 
evaluated  as  a  channel  and  medium  for  human 
nature's  unfolding. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  INSTINCT  OF  WORKMANSHIP 
CONTRIVANCE,  OR  CONSTRUCTIVENESS 

There  is  in  most  people  a  fairly  well-defined 
impulse  to  engage  their  energies  upon  some 
project  which  will  grow  under  their  hand  —  a 
delight  in  creation  or  at  least  in  activity  to 
which  some  use  is  imputed.  Where  the  in- 
stinct of  workmanship  has  been  operative 
there  is  generally  also  a  certain  sense  of  pro- 
prietorship over  the  thing  created.  In  fact  the 
contriving  impulse  seems  normally  to  mani- 
fest itself  in  conjunction  with  the  possessive 
instinct.  It  may  well  be,  therefore,  that  the 
thwarting  of  the  sense  of  proprietorship  ex- 
plains why  the  workmanly  tendencies  are  not 
more  active  than  they  are  in  the  world  of  in- 
dustrial manual  labor. 

The  thesis  that  present-day  methods  of 
factory  production  offer  little  stimulus  or 
satisfaction  to  the  instinct  of  workmanship  is 
already  well  established.  The  subdivision  of 
tasks,  the  monotonous  repetition,  the  speed- 

44 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  WORKMANSHIP 

ing-up  of  work  —  all  militate  against  any 
vital  sense  of  creativeness.  Workers  in  most 
factories  have  rarely  been  outside  of  the  de- 
partment where  they  work  and  are  often  un- 
able to  tell  the  relation  of  their  own  product 
to  the  finished  article.  It  was  the  profoundly 
significant  remark  of  a  well-known  student 
of  the  feeble-minded  that  the  mentally  handi- 
capped make  the  best  machine  feeders.  The 
implied  indictment  of  industrial  processes  as 
vehicles  of  the  workmanly  impulses  of  normal 
men  is  probably  deserved. 
'  The  remark  does  at  the  same  time  suggest 
that  the  potency  of  this  impulse  is  somewhat 
in  proportion  to  the  amount  of  the  individual's 
physical  and  nervous  energy.  Those,  for  exam- 
ple, who  have  grown  up  in  the  mental  aridity  of 
a  city  slum  or  company-owned  town,  with  little 
education,  poor  food,  and  long  hours  of  work, 
often  appear  to  find  in  unskilled,  monotonous 
labor  a  really  pleasant  respite  from  the  fatiguing 
complexity  of  life.^  There  is  no  call  upon  them 

^  See  the  evidence  collected  and  presented  in  Gra- 
ham Wallas,  The  Great  Society,  p.  341.  See  also  the 
testimony  of  Professor  Hugo  Miinsterberg  in  chap. 
XVI,  Psychology  and  Industrial  Efficiency. 

45 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

for  craftsmanship,  and  if  there  were  it  would 
find  them  wearied  and  harassed  by  its  excep- 
tional demands.  Devitalizing  influences  are  in 
the  ascendant  and  a  call  for  creative  work- 
manship would  impose  a  burden  which  there  is 
not  energy  enough  to  carry.  This  fact  does  not 
of  course  disprove  the  existence  of  the  instinct. 
It  shows  rather  that  it  atrophies  where  the 
whole  being  is  occupied  with  the  task  of  keep- 
ing going  physically  on  a  too  narrow  margin 
of  vitality. 

If,  however,  this  instinct  influences  the  con- 
duct of  normal  people  under  ordinary  condi- 
tions, how  are  we  to  account  for  the  absence 
of  craftsmanship  in  those  branches  of  indus- 
try where  there  is  still  occasion  for  its  use  ? 
There  is  in  certain  of  the  building  trades,  for 
example,  a  fairly  continuous  opportunity  to 
use  ingenuity,  to  do  good  work,  to  master 
thoroughly  a  technique  the  application  of 
which  to  varied  problems  requires  constant 
attention.  Plumbers,  masons,  structural  iron- 
workers, electricians,  —  all  do  work  in  which 
the  instinct  to  contrive  finds  more  or  less  ex- 
pression.  And  yet  there  is  chronic  complaint 

46 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  WORKMANSHIP 

among  the  purchasers  of  their  services  that 
these  artisans  often  do  a  poor  job  at  a  desul- 
tory pace.  If  this  complaint  has  any  elements 
of  truth,  as  the  unanimity  with  which  it  is 
voiced  leads  one  to  believe,  how  is  the  scarcity 
of  good  workmanship  to  be  explained?  Are 
there  other  instincts  which  determine  conduct 
in  these  instances  and  inhibit  the  activity  of 
the  constructive  impulse? 

There  is  to-day  a  minimum  of  training  in  the 
skilled  crafts.  The  apprentice  system  has 
proved  ill-adapted  to  modem  conditions.  And 
no  adequate  substitute  has  yet  been  devised. 
Neither  the  employer  nor  the  trade-unions 
have  felt  that  they  had  the  time  or  the  money 
to  spend  in  training  workers.  And  there  exist 
few  public  educational  institutions  in  which 
ideals  of  workmanship  can  be  properly  fos- 
tered. In  a  word,  one  reason  why  better  work 
is  not  done  is  that  workmen  do  not  know  how 
to  do  it.  Or  if  they  do  know  how,  they  have 
often  found  in  working  for  building  contrac- 
tors that  their  employers  were  more  inter- 
ested in  getting  work  done  on  the  date  of  de- 
livery than  in  its  quality. 

47 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

A  second  tendency  to  be  noted  is  the  in- 
creasing use  of  building  equipment  which  is 
already  made  up.  Modern  plumbing  outfit- 
ting is  manufactured  in  such  a  way  that  the 
Workman  has  only  to  screw  parts  together. 
Wood-working  is  done  almost  entirely  in  door 
and  window-sash  factories.  Where  concrete 
takes  the  place  of  brick,  the  work  requires 
brawn  rather  than  deftness  once  the  moulds 
are  built.  In  short,  there  is  evident,  even  in 
the  work  still  remaining  to  the  craftsman,  a 
drift  to  ready-made  equipment  and  greater 
division  of  labor. 

Thirdly,  there  is  throughout  industry  and 
particularly  in  the  building  trades,  an  aston- 
ishing insecurity  in  the  tenure  of  employment. 
The  holding  of  a  job  is  of  such  vital  impor- 
tance to  the  worker  that  the  terror  of  unem- 
ployment leads  consciously  and  unconsciously 
to  the  adoption  of  a  ** make-work"  policy, 
or  a  policy  to  do  work,  like  plumbing-repair 
work  for  example,  inefficiently  in  order  that 
it  may  have  to  be  frequently  re-done. 

There  is,  furthermore,  no  sense  of  owner- 
ship in  the  things  created  under  present  in- 

48 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  WORKMANSHIP 

dustrial  conditions;  one  man  builds  and  an- 
other occupies.  Those  who  make  clothing  are 
not  the  best-dressed.  The  boot  and  shoe 
workers  are  not  to  be  distinguished  by  superior 
footwear.  The  maid  who  washes  her  mistress's 
dishes  is  less  careful  than  is  the  same  maid  five 
years  later  in  her  own  home  washing  her  own 
best  china.  The  material  which  the  modern 
wage-earner  manipulates  belongs  to  some  one 
else ;  this  is  true  when  it  is  raw  goods  and  when 
it  is  finished  product. 

Again,  the  sentiment  against  the  "profiteer" 
arises  from  a  recognition  that  he  is  always  "on 
the  make,"  less  interested  in  quality  than  in  his 
own  returns.  The  profiteer  to-day  dramatizes 
in  the  worker's  mind  the  anomalous  fact  of  the 
possibility  under  present  conditions  of  making 
a  living  by  owning  and  bargaining  rather  than 
by  working.  So  that  when  to  this  consciousness 
of  working  that  another  may  enjoy  is  added 
rankling  feeling  of  a  strange  injustice  inherent 
in  the  industrial  system,  indifferent  workman- 
ship is  not  hard  to  explain. 

It  has  also  to  be  remembered  that  the  work- 
ing pace  of  manual  workers  has  to  be  set  in 

49 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

relation  to  a  lifetime  of  employment  at  the 
same  type  of  work.  This  truth  is  often  lost 
sight  of  by  casual  observers  of  those  workmen 
who  appear  to  be  so  completely  dilatory  in 
their  working  tactics.  And  what  is  more  seri- 
ous, this  is  often  ignored  by  the  *' time-study" 
experts  who  are  interested  in  setting  a  daily 
or  hourly  "task'*  for  the  worker  and  who 
are  likely  to  demand  a  speed  that  would  "  scrap 
the  men  at  forty."  All  pace-setting,  all  speed- 
ing-up, must,  if  it  is  to  be  just  and  socially 
expedient,  bear  in  mind  that  a  man*s  working 
life  should  be  not  twenty,  but  nearer  forty, 
years;  and  if  society  chooses  to  decree  other- 
wise because  of  demands  for  high  productiv- 
ity, it  is  society's  immediate  dutj''  to  provide 
for  the  discarded  workers  by  old-age  pensions 
(which  begin  far  lower  than  at  sixty-five  or 
seventy  years)  or  by  some  other  adequate  and 
humane  system. 

Low  pay  puts  a  still  further  obstacle- in  the 
way  of  the  constructive  impulses,  since  it 
causes  lessened  energy  and  harassing  anxiety; 
and  reduces  incentive.  And  finally,  there  may 
be  deliberately  unsocial  ideas  at  work  in  tlie 

50 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  WORKMANSHIP 

minds  of  workers,  who  may  on  some  occasion 
have  been  intimidated  by  a  fellow-worker 
or  converted  to  a  destructive  programme 
for  gaining  constructive  ends,  or  who  may 
have  become  despondent,  la2y,  or  irrespon- 
sible. 

The  propaganda  for  sabotage  clearly  exem- 
plifies how  the  instinct  of  workmanship  can 
be  more  or  less  effectually  displaced  by  more 
immediate,  and  therefore  more  intense,  im- 
pulses. Throwing  the  wrench  into  the  ma- 
chine, putting  sand  in  the  gears,  spoiling  work 
deliberately  —  these  measures  have  been  ad- 
vocated in  extreme  cases  by  certain  radical 
leaders  who  saw  no  other  way  of  bringing  their 
case  to  the  attention  of  employer  or  consumer. 
Nevertheless,  the  virulence  of  the  exhortation 
needed  to  bring  about  sabotage,  the  reluc- 
tance with  which  it  is  practiced  and  the  horror 
with  which  it  is  received,  all  tend  to  indicate 
that  any  deliberate  damage  of  goods  or  of 
equipment  in  order  to  secure  desired  ends  will 
be  undertaken  only  as  a  last  extremity  and 
under  great  provocation.  In  short,  sabotage 
**goes  against  the  grain"  and  the  antipathy 

51 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

it  arouses  reveals  in  its  true  light  the  vigor 
of  the  constructive  impulse. 

The  problem  of  recruiting  shipyard  labor 
has  emphasized  what  the  workers  believe  to 
be  one  of  the  greatest  obstacles  to  craftsman- 
ship." The  situation  in  our  own  country  when 
the  shipbuilding  programme  was  undertaken 
upon  our  entry  into  the  war  was  somewhat  as 
follows:  There  was  little  shipbuilding  and  few 
men  trained  in  the  distinctly  shipyard  crafts, 
although  many  workers  in  closely  allied  crafts 
could  be  rapidly  instructed.  The  most  eco- 
nomical procedure  would  therefore  be  to  call 
in  the  boiler-makers,  carpenters,  machinists, 
etc.,  who  were  already  proficient  in  tlieir  call- 
ings. Pursuant  to  the  Government's  policy  dur- 
ing the  war  of  dealing  with  the  workers  through 
the  unions,  the  logical  next  step  was  there- 
fore to  invite  the  unions  to  supply  members 
of  their  own  organizations  who  were  unem- 
ployed, to  break  in  on  the  shipyard  jobs.  The 
presumption  was  in  favor  of  this  being  the 
easiest  way  to  be  sure  that  men  with  training 
in  related  trades  were  being  utilized.  The 
trade-union    membership    in    these    kindred 

.52 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  WORKMANSHIP 

crafts  is  made  up  of  men  who  have  served  an 
apprenticeship  of  from  three  to  five  years  or 
who  have  qualified  through  other  practical 
experience.  While  by  no  means  an  infallible 
test,  the  holding  of  a  union  card  indicates  at 
least  an  average  degree  of  proficiency.  Cer- 
tainly it  is  a  better  credential  than  no  test  at 
all  of  the  worker's  practical  ability. 

But  because  certain  of  the  shipyard  em- 
ployers were  opposed  to  and  afraid  of  the  in- 
troduction of  trade-union  workers,  the  men 
who  did  come  from  the  unions  were  at  first 
discriminated  against;  and  the  employers 
made  every  effort  to  break  in  non-union,  un- 
skilled men.  The  result  was  that  in  one  yard 
the  management  boasted  that  it  had  broken 
in  over  eighty  bartenders,  over  a  hundred 
jewelers,  and  many  waiters  and  clerks.  In 
regard  to  one  occupation  at  this  same  yard  the 
union  representative  testified  before  the  Ship- 
building Labor  Adjustment  Board  that  ten 
of  his  members  could  handle  all  the  work  for 
which  the  company  was  employing  twenty- 
seven  men.  Even  if  there  is  a  pardonable 
exaggeration  in   this    proportion,   there   still 

53 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

remains  a  considerable  margin  of  waste  and 
inefficiency.  In  short,  the  trade-union  conten- 
tion has  from  the  start  been  that  in  the  Atlan- 
tic Coast  shipyards  there  has  not  been  effi- 
ciency, not  been  real  craftsmanship,  because 
the  employers  were  **more  interested  in  killing 
the  union,**  as  one  union  official  said  to  me, 
"than  in  building  the  ships."  Whatever  the 
facts  may  be  in  this  whole  situation,  it  is  note- 
worthy that  the  workers  have  taken  sj>ecial 
pains  to  repudiate  absolutely  the  charges  of 
inefficiency  made  against  them.  The  war's 
demands  for  output  have  made  them  more 
than  ever  alive  to  the  importance  of  cherish- 
ing the  ideal  of  workmanship. 

We  see  the  desire  to  cherish  this  ideal  also 
active  in  the  vigorous  opposition  with  which 
organized  labor  has  met  the  scientific  man- 
agement movement.  One  of  labor's  chief 
counts  against  the  "Taylor  System'*  and  all 
its  ramifications  has  been  that  it  subdivides 
work,  takes  all  planning  away  from  workers, 
makes  each  operation  a  meaningless,  machine- 
like job  at  which  no  craftsmanship  can  be 
exercised  and  from  which  consequently  no  joy 

54 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  WORKMANSHIP 

can  be  derived.  The  truth  of  these  objections 
concerns  us  here  less  than  the  fact  that  they 
arise  out  of  an  attempt  to  preserve  the  chances 
for  craftsmanship.  They  come,  of  course, 
largely  from  the  craft  unions  whose  very  ex- 
istence is  jeopardized  by  the  minimizing  of 
craft  distinctions ;  and  the  danger  of  weakening 
these  unions  and  thereby  reducing  the  protec- 
tion offered  to  the  members,  stands  as  a  reason 
for  opposition  to  scientific  management  which 
is  as  strongly  instinctive  as  the  opposition  on 
grounds  of  a  lessened  scope  for  craftsmanship. 
On  the  one  hand,  the  individual  feels  his 
chance  for  self-expression  reduced;  on  the 
other,  the  group  feels  its  life  threatened.  In 
consequence,  trade  union  opposition  to  sci- 
entific management  has  insistently  called  at- 
tention to  the  increasingly  limited  chance  for 
manual  dexterity  and  for  the  satisfaction  of 
the  contriving  impulse  which  the  machine 
world  offers  when  present  tendencies  are  car- 
ried to  their  logical  conclusion.  It  is  empha- 
sizing that  unless  the  modern  industrial  world 
can  offer  free  play  for  our  normal  creative  im- 
pulses, it  is  weak  and  unworthy  at  a  vital  point. 

55 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

It  is  interesting  to  consider  in  passing 
whether  two  possible  modifications  of  indus- 
trial practice  would  offer  outlet  and  scope  for 
this  instinct.  There  is,  first,  the  possibility 
of  acquainting  workers  fully  with  the  place 
in  the  scheme  of  things  which  the  product 
which  they  help  to  create  occupies.^  Whether 
the  worker's  ability  to  see  his  job  in  relation 
to  the  whole  creative  enterprise  of  industry 
can  ever  give  satisfaction  to  the  instinct  of 
workmanship  is,  however,  a  question  which 
cannot  yet  be  answered.  We  shall  not  know 
until  we  experiment. 

In  the  second  place,  it  is  possible  that  the 
assumption  by  the  workers  of  greater  control 
over  the  conduct  of  industry  will  give  more 
adequate  chance  to  satisfy  this  instinct. 

This,  too,  is  a  diflficult  question  to  approach 
deductively.  But  if  we  can  judge  from  simi- 
lar and  parallel  examples  of  the  present-day 
cooperative  movement  and  profit-sharing  ven- 
tures, if  we  can  judge  from  the  workers'  own 
direction  of  trade-union  affairs,  we  are  fairly 

^  See  Jane  Addams,  Democracy  and  Social  EthicSy 
chap.  VI. 

S6 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  WORKMANSHIP  , 

safe  in  saying  that  more  representative  control 
will  bring  with  it  a  wider  distribution  of 
responsibility,-  interest,  sense  of  participation, 
and  proprietorship,  —  all  of  which  are  closely 
related  to  this  desire  to  construct  and  create. 
If  we  conceive  of  this  impulse  as  including  not 
only  manual  endeavor,  but  the  intellectual 
labor  necessary  to  carry  through  plans  large 
and  small,  we  shall  get  a  fairer  and  more 
hopeful  grasp  of  the  place  that  workmanship 
may  occupy  as  industrial  government  becomes 
more  representative.  For  the  mental  labor 
needed  to  accomplish  a  genuinely  social  control 
of  industry  must  be  widely  shared  and  ability 
to  plan  and  execute  orders  must  become  com- 
mon. 

It  is  probable,  indeed,  that  all  proposals 
which  involve  an  extension  of  representative 
government  in  industry  will,  by  the  very  fact 
of  distributing  responsibility  more  widely, 
involve  a  new  stirring  of  interest  and  effort. 
The  problem  of  completely  scientific  applica- 
tion of  intelligence  to  process,  to  machinery, 
and  to  motions  cannot  be  solved  until  the 
workers  are  asked  both  to  contribute  their 

57 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

knowledge  to  the  upbuilding  of  standard  prac- 
tice and  to  the  control  of  conditions  and  terms 
on  which  that  practice  is  introduced.  Sidney 
Webb  ^  has  well  phrased  this  alternative  when 
he  says :  — 

You  must  not  dream  of  taking  a  single  step 
in  the  direction  of  scientific  management  until 
it  has  been  very  elaborately  explained  to,  and 
discussed  by,  not  only  the  particular  men  with 
whom  you  are  going  to  experiment,  but  also  by 
the  whole  workshop.  It  will.  If  you  handle  It 
with  any  competence,  be  a  matter  of  Intense 
interest  to  them.  You  must  talk  to  them  both 
publicly  and  privately,  with  magic-lantern  slides 
and  experimental  demonstrations,  answering 
endless  questions,  and  patiently  meeting  what 
seem  to  you  frivolous  objections.  The  workshop 
committee  or  the  shop  stewards  will  naturally 
be  the  first  people  to  be  consulted.  Remember, 
it  is  the  men's  working  lives  (not  your  own  life) 
that  you  are  proposing  to  alter,  and  their  craft 
(not  yours)  that  you  may  seem  to  be  going  to 
destroy.  You  will  be  making  a  ruinous  blunder, 
fatal  to  the  maximum  efficiency  of  the  works, 
if  you  content  yourself  with  bribing,  by  high 
rates,  bonuses,  or  rewards,  just  the  few  Individ- 
ual men  whom  you  propose  to  put  on  the  new 
system,  whilst  leaving  the  opinion  of  the  rest  of 
the  staff  sullenly  adverse.    The  others  will  not 

^  The  Works  Manager  Today ^  pp.  137-138. 

58 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  WORKMANSHIP 

be  appeased  merely  by  the  fact  that  a  few  se- 
lected men  are  making  "good  money!" 

And  you  must,  of  course,  make  it  clear  in  some 
way,  to  your  own  men  as  well  as  to  the  trade- 
union  concerned,  that  what  you  are  proposing 
to  introduce  will  not  merely  pay  the  first  lot  of 
selected  workmen,  and  not  merely  the  present 
generation,  but  also  will  have  a  good  influence 
on  the  prospects  of  the  whole  stafl",  and  will  not 
have  any  adverse  effect  on  the  standard  rate, 
now  or  hereafter.  Unless  you  can  demonstrate 
this  —  unless  you  in  some  way  automatically 
protect  the  piecework  rates  from  being  "cut" 
at  some  future  time  —  possibly  by  som^  future 
manager  —  you  will  be  met  (and  in  the  national 
interest  you  ought  to  be  met)  with  unrelenting 
opposition;  and,  if  you  impose  the  change  by 
force  or  by  individual  bribery,  you  will  inevi- 
tably encounter  the  reprisals  of  "ca'canny." 

This  exhortation  to  managers  is  not  a  bit 
too  strong  if  it  is  the  preservation  of  a  sense 
of  workmanship  that  we  desire.  The  policy 
of  progressively  working  shop  output  up  to  a 
higher  point  and  at  each  stage  having  the  piece 
rate  cut  to  keep  the  workers*  total  earnings 
at  little  if  any  above  his  original  wage  has  been 
widely  experienced  by  workers.  It  has  been 
the  rule,  rather  than  the  exception,  to  an  ex- 
tent that  the  practice  of  rate-cutting  alone 

59 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

can  stand  as  one  of  the  strongest  reasons  why 
"  efficiency"  has  little  appeal  for  the  working 
class.  This  was  clearly  recognized  by  the  Ship- 
building Labor  Adjustment  Board  when  in  its 
awards  during  the  spring  of  191 8  it  required 
employers  to  post  notices  in  the  shipyards 
that  no  piece  rates  would  be  cut  for  the  period 
of  the  war. 

It  is  obvious  that  the  instinct  of  workman- 
ship is  a  beneficent  and  fruitful  impulse.  It 
is  equally  obvious  that  among  the  great 
mass  of  wage-working  people  it  to-day  gets  lit- 
tle chance  for  expression.  This  is  the  instinct 
which,  next  to  the  possessive  and  submissive, 
explains  the  great  complex  structure  of  our 
capitalist  states.  But,  as  with  the  possessive 
instinct,  its  satisfaction  iii  the  men  who  have 
molded  the  great  economic  forces  of  the  last 
century,  has  meant  its  repression  in  the  men 
who  were  their  agents  and  instruments.  Our 
problem  is  to  secure  the  chance  for  satisfaction 
in  ownership  and  in  constructive  effort  for  the 
dispossessed  and  circumscribed.  We  must  look 
to  the  activity  of  this  instinct  to  create  and 
universalize  conditions  under  which  workman- 

60 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  WORKMANSHIP 

ship  can  more  adequately  find  its  expression. 
Indeed,  this  instinct  is  already  prompting 
humanity  to  the  creation  of  new  methods,  the 
contriving  of  new  schemes,  in  which  the  instinct 
of  workmanship  has  its  chance  and  the  instinct 
of  possessiveness  has  its  opportunity  for  normal 
satisfaction.  We  have  here  too  valuable  and 
creative  a  tendency  to  allow  it  to  be  longer 
neglected,  thwarted,  or  dissipated.  The  as- 
sertion of  its  importance  must,  however, 
carry  with  it  more  than  a  pious  wish  about 
creativeness.  Thoughtful  consideration  of  its 
place  and  importance  must  inevitably  lead  to 
suggestions  for  reorganization  which  will  al- 
low wider  latitude  to  the  workmanly  tend- 
encies. And  if  it  should  prove  that  industry, 
because  of  the  high  development  of  the  mar 
chine,  cannot  offer  this  latitude,  we  must 
utilize  our  leisure  in  less  sophisticated  and  more 
normal  pursuits. 

The  character  and  policy  of  the  labor  move- 
ment of  the  future  are  bound  up  with  its  ac- 
ceptance of  workmanship  and  responsibility 
for  production.  I  have  rehearsed  at  length 
the  reasons  why  it  is  not  strange  if  present- 

6i 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

day  workers  are  not  workmanly.  These  reasons 
are  overwhelmingly  explanatory.  But  some  of 
them  are  destined  to  have  less  rather  than  more 
force  as  years  go  on.  Organized  labor's  influence 
is  in  the  ascendant.  It  will  undoubtedly,  as  its 
share  of  responsibility  for  production  becomes 
more  definitely  established,  adopt  some  more 
affirmative  policy  toward  genuine  efficiency 
and  workmanship.  Not  only  must  provision 
for  the  exercise  of  this  instinct  be  made  in  in- 
dustry, but  it  will  be  largely  up  to  the  unions 
to  help  in  making  it.  In  this  demand  upon 
their  foresight  and  energy  is  coming  a  supreme 
test  of  labor's  ability  to  take  over  industrial 
control.  It  becomes  daily  clearer  that  the  com- 
munity as  a  whole  waits  only  for  tangible  evi- 
dences of  the  workers'  competency  to  entrust 
them  more  and  more  fully  with  the  direction 
of  production. 

Already  there  are  signs  that  this  new  inter- 
est is  being  aroused.  In  England  in  its  resolu- 
tions on  Reconstruction  the  Labor  Party  says :  ^ 

*  See  Arthur  Gleason  on  "British  Labor  and  the 
Issues  of  Reconstruction."  The  Survey^  August  3, 
1918. 

62 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  WORKMANSHIP 

That  the  conference  cannot  help  noticing  how 
very  far  from  efficient  the  capitalist  system  has 
been  proved  to  be,  with  its  stimulus  of  private 
profit,  and  its  evil  shadow  of  wages  driven  down 
by  competition  often  below  subsistence  level; 
that  the  conference  recognizes  that  it  is  vital 
for  any  genuine  social  reconstruction  to  increase 
the  nation's  aggregate  annual  production,  not 
of  profit  or  dividend,  but  of  useful  commodities 
and  services;  that  this  increased  productivity  is 
obviously  not  to  be  sought  in  reducing  the  means 
of  subsistence  of  the  workers,  whether  by  hand 
or  by  brain,  nor  yet  in  lengthening  their  hours  of 
work,  for  neither  "sweating"  nor  "driving" 
can  be  made  the  basis  of  lasting  prosperity,  but 
in  the  socialization  of  industry  In  order  to  secure^ 
(a)  the  elimination  of  every  kind  of  inefficiency 

and  waste. 
{b)  the  application  both  of  more  honest  de- 
termination to  produce  the  very  best,  and 
of  more  science  and  intelligence  to  every 
branch  of  the  nation's  work;  together  with 

(c)  an  improvement  in  social,  political,  and 
industrial  organization;  and 

(d)  the  indispensable  marshaling  of  the  na- 
tion's resources  so  that  each  need  is  met  in 
the  order  of,  and  in  proportion  to,  its  real 
national  importance. 

And  in  our  country  the  following  utterance 
of  the  president  of  the  International  Printing- 
Pressmen's  and  Assistants'  Union,  is  indicative 

63 


•     INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

of  a  changing  emphasis.  In  an  address  to  the 
local  union  at  Scranton,  Pa.,  Mr.  Berry,  the 
president,  said :  — ■ 

A  great  educational  campaign  has  been  taken 
up  by  the  International  Union.  It  has  realized 
of  its  own  initiative  that  there  are  Incompetents 
and  seml-competents  engaged  In  the  printing  art, 
and  it  has  said  to  the  industry,  both  employer 
and  employee:  "We  propose  to  assist  In  the  elim- 
ination of  incompetency  in  our  business  to  the 
end  that  a  high  standard  of  craftsmanship  shall 
be  given  In  the  Interest  of  the  Industry  as  a  whole. 
When  I  say  that  this  organization  has  spent 
nearly  ^200,000  in  the  establishment  and  main- 
tenance of  a  trade  school  with  ^128,000  worth 
of  printing  machinery  of  modern  type,  with  all 
the  labor-saving  devices  Included,  you  can  best 
understand  the  intensity  of  our  interest  In  craft 
improvement.  ...  1  am  sorry  to  say  that  the 
employers  of  this  country  have  looked  upon  this 
educational  effort  ...  as  an  institution  of  the 
union.  This  is  an  unfortunate  mistake.  The 
employers  of  this  country  are  as  much  obligated 
to  assist  in  the  furtherance  of  the  possibilities  of 
this  system  of  education  as  are  the  employees.  . . . 

Another  hopeful  and  enlightening  earnest  of 
labor's  attitude  was  seen  recently  on  the  Paci- 
fic Coast,  where  one  large  shipbuilder  stood 
out  against  all  his  compeers  in  contracting 

64 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  WORKMANSHIP 

with  the  unions  and  building  ships  under 
union  conditions.  The  unions,  seeing  an  op- 
portunity to  make  public  capital  out  of  the 
splendid  achievements  of  its  members,  came 
out  presently  with  a  statement  pointing  out 
that  the  yard  which  employed  union  labor 
was  building  its  ships  in  a  very  much  shorter 
time  than  were  the  non-union  yards.  They 
showed,  moreover,  according  to  press  reports, 
that  the  local  Chamber  of  Commerce  had  been 
so  prejudiced  against  them  that  at  a  banquet 
held  to  boom  shipbuilding  it  had  refused  to 
make  any  acknowledgment  of  the  fact  that  it 
was  organized  labor's  superior  efficiency  and 
productivity  which  enabled  the  yard  in  ques- 
tion to  launch  the  first  ship  of  the  new  mer- 
chant fleet. 

With  the  instinct  of  workmanship  under- 
stood and  given  guidance  and  direction,  there 
need  be  few  fears  for  the  future  of  the  workers 
or  for  the  future  of  workmanship.  We  have 
only  to  understand  that  there  is  no  true  joy 
in  work  and  no  true  workmanship  apart  from 
an  appreciable  degree  of  self-direction  and  self- 
control. 

65 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

But  if,  as  is  not  unlikely,  we  find  upon  can- 
did examination,  that  even  under  self-direc- 
tion, there  is  still  much  machine  work  which 
offers  no  outlet  for  creative  energy,  we  can 
vary  the  work.  And  we  can  shorten  the  work 
day  to  a  point  where  a  compensatory  leisure 
can  offer  the  time  needed  to  foster  healthy 
activity  which  is  interesting  and  spontaneous. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  INSTINCT  OF  POSSESSION,  OWNERSHIP' 
PROPERTY,  OR  ACQUISITIVENESS  ^ 

The  essential  tendency  connoted  by  these 
various  terms  is  the  desire  to  identify  prop- 
erty whether  in  things,  people,  or  ideas,  with 
one's  self;  or  the  desire  involving  less  imme- 
diate personal  possession  which  derives  satis- 
faction from  ultimate  control.  This  distinc- 
tion between  possession  and  control  is  one 
which  must  be  drawn  in  the  face  of  modern 
industrial  conditions. 

There  is  comparatively  little  physical  or 
real  property  which  most  of  us  care  to 
possess  directly  and  permanently.  But  our 
desire  to  have  enough  control  over  property 
to  permit  us  the  use  of  it  is  a  desire  which 
grows  from  what  it  feeds  upon. 
'  Specifically,  the  worker  in  a  spinning-room 
is  not  anxious  to  own  bobbins  or  spinning- 
frames  or  yarn.  But  she  may  have  a  desire 
to  participate  in  the  control  of  a  factory  to  the 

67 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

point  where  she  can  secure  higher  wages.  The 
shopgirl  may  not  want  to  own  a  beach  lot,  but 
she  properly  resents  it  if  she  is  not  allowed 
to  walk  along  the  shore  of  somebody's  "  pri- 
vate property."  The  instinct  for  ownership  can, 
in  short,  satisfy  itself  in  varying  and  in  very 
indirect  ways. 

The  activity  of  this  sense  of  proprietorship 
is  so  often  manifested  in  little  incidents  about 
a  factory  that  its  identity  should  be  estab- 
lished. The  writer  in  a  visit  through  a  gar- 
ment shop  came  across  a  young  girl  who  was 
sitting  at  a  sewing  machine  crying  and  sobbing 
violently.  Inquiry  revealed  the  cause  of  her 
sorrow  to  be  that  "  her  own'*  machine  had 
broken  down  and  she  was  being  required  in 
the  hour's  interval  to  use  another  machine  in 
perfect  repair  and  of  identical  make  and  ca- 
pacity. A  book  bindery  in  which  the  work  was 
seasonal  undertook  to  distribute  jobs  by  trans- 
ferring the  girls  among  the  departments.  The 
effort  was  met  at  the  outset  by  a  strong  feel- 
ing that  the  particular  process  which  the  girl 
already  knew  was  "  her  job,"  and  she  neither 
wanted  anybody  else's  nor  wanted  any  one 

68 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  POSSESSION 

to  learn  hers.  When  a  spinner  in  a  yarn  mill 
was  asked  to  change  from  some  "frames" 
which  she  had  worked  for  several  years  she 
abruptly  left  with  no  explanation.  In  another 
factory  I  had  occasion  to  settle  a  dispute  be- 
tween the  management  and  the  truck-driv- 
kJFS.  The  management  had  decided  to  employ 
a  stable-man  to  tend  the  horses  and  care  for 
the  harness.  The  intention  was  to  cut  off  at 
least  an  hour  from  the  working  day  of  each 
driver.  But  objection  soon  developed  because 
the  men  wanted  to  tend  "their  own"  horses, 
and  would  trust  them  to  no  indifferent  "lum- 
per" in  the  barn.  In  a  large  foundry  when 
the  management  found  itself  with  a  strike  on 
its  hands,  it  discovered  that  the  men  had  all 
the  forges  numbered  among  themselves  and 
each  man  was  definitely  assigned  by  the  group 
as  a  whole  to  one  which  he  had  grown  accus- 
tomed to  by  years  of  use.  The  attempt  of  a 
new  foreman  to  transfer  the  man  at  ''number 
one  forge"  to  a  different  work  place  brought 
the  whole  department  about  his  ears  and 
created  a  perfect  storm  of  resentment.  In- 
stances of  this  sort  could  be  multiplied  with- 

69 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

out  number  to  show  the  strength  of  the  feel- 
ing of  "mine  and  thine,"  and  the  part  it  plays 
in  the  detailed  running  of  industry. 

The  sense  of  property  right  in  jobs,  an  in- 
stinctive feeling  of  possessiveness  over  one*s 
means  of  sustenance,  gains  constant  strength 
among  workers,  by  virtue  of  existing  side  by 
side  with  the  employers'  conviction  that  the 
jobs  they  have  to  offer  are  theirs,  that  the 
workers  *'can  take  them  or  leave  them,  and 
if  you  don't  like  them  you  know  what  you  can 
do."  The  workers'  feeling  does,  indeed,  have 
such  deep-rooted  causes  that  it  seems  destined 
to  gain  more  serious  recognition  in  our  social 
institutions  and  in  the  eyes  of  the  law.  Fail- 
ure to  recognize  this  growing  sense  of  proprie- 
tary right  in  employment  will  in  consequence 
give  rise  to  a  stronger  and  stronger  conscious- 
ness of  injustice  or  to  unconscious  suppressed 
desires.  Evidences  that  desire  in  this  direc- 
tion has  been  thwarted  are  not  be  be  ignored 
to-day.  The  itinerant  workers  who  supply 
the  labor  for  the  seasonal  demands  of  the 
farmers  on  our  Western  coast  are  preponder- 
antly single  men  without  attachments  of  home 

70 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  POSSESSION 

or  family.^  They  form  a  peculiarly  unleav- 
ened group,  high-handed  and  irresponsible, 
whose  work  under  present  conditions  is  fre- 
quently unreliable  and  inefficient. 

Again,  part  of  the  obloquy  which  falls  upon 
the  **scab"  is  due  to  his  failure  to  understand 
that  the  striking  workers  believe  that  jobs  are 
theirs  and  that  they  are  only  temporarily  ab- 
senting themselves  pending  settlement  upon 
terms  of  employment  to  which  they  can  sub- 
scribe. The  ruling  of  many  employers  that 
an  employee  who  strikes  is  automatically 
discharged  is  regarded  by  the  workers  as  an 
absurd  denial  of  a  cardinal  principle. 

Not  a  little  of  the  trade-union  psychology 
concerning  "closed"  or  union  shop  is  expli- 
cable from  this  point  of  view.  Workers  who 
have  by  banding  together  succeeded  in  bet- 
tering working  conditions  feel  that  they  have 
a  right  to  the  vacant  positions  which  is  prior 
to   that  of  the   individualistic   artisan  who, 

^  According  to  Professor  C.  H.  Parker  there  are 
over  sixty  thousand  people  in  the  labor  camps  of 
California.  See  "The  California  Casual  and  his  Re- 
volt," QuarUrly  Journal  of  Ecofiomics,  November, 
191S. 

71 


/ 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

while  he  gladly  accepts  the  benefits  of  union 
conditions,  will  undertake  none  of  the  risks  or 
costs  of  collective  action.  The  union  position 
is  well  expressed  in  the  dictum:  "Let  the  man 
that  helps  make  the  job  decent  have  the  job." 
And  a  metaphysical  "freedom  of  contract" 
or  "  right  to  stay  out  or  join  the  union  as  the 
workman  sees  fit "  seems  to  have  a  less  realis- 
tic psychological  basis  than  the  union  attitude 
which  says  that  he  who  would  claim  an  equity 
in  a  job  must  help  to  support  the  group  which 
keeps  working  conditions  tolerable.  But  in 
any  case  an  equity  in  the  job  is  predicated  and 
the  legal  facts  are  yet  to  be  reconciled  with 
the  psychological. 

Not  alone  the  legal  facts,  but  the  current 
phraseology  as  well,  has  still  to  be  reconciled 
to  a  more  social  view  of  industrial  opportu- 
nity. The  employer  still  "gives'*  a  job;  asks 
the  cooperation  of  "his"  employees;  and  re- 
sents it  when  a  neighboring  manufacturer 
** steals  his  help."  So  pervasive,  indeed,  is 
this  sense  of  ownership  in  a  business  which  a 
man  has  done  so  much  to  build  up  that  it 
stands  to-day  as  an  obstacle  to  necessary  so- 

.72 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  POSSESSION 

cializing  tendencies.  I  addressed  a  forum  in  a 
New  England  city,  and  in  asking  a  question 
upon  some  point  in  my  address  an  aged  gen- 
tleman arose  fairly  choleric  with  rage  and 
shouted, "  Do  you  mean  to  say,  young  man,  that 
I  have  n't  got  a  right  to  do  as  I  please  with 
the  business  I  have  built  up  in  the  last  forty 
years?"  It  was  gratifying  to  note  that  the 
audience,  by  its  immediate  applause  at  my 
answer,  agreed  with  me  that  while  his  question 
was  well-meant,  his  assumption  that  he,  and 
he  alone,  was  responsible  for  his  business  suc- 
cess would  not  bear  scrutiny,  and  that  only 
in  a  very  restricted  sense  was  it  truly  his  busi- 
ness to  dispose  of  as  he  saw  fit  without  regard 
to  all  those  whose  employment  had  been 
essential  to  his  prosperity. 

I  am  under  no  illusion  that  this  sense  of 
owning  the  jobs  which  an  employer  has  "to 
sell "  is  not  present  with  anybody  who  becomes 
a  labor  manager.  Undoubtedly  any  group  put 
in  the  same  position  of  control  over  workers 
tends  to  react  in  the  same  way.  At  the  1917 
annual  convention  of  the  American  Federation 
of  Labor  there  was  some  debate  over  the 

.73 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

granting  of  a  charter  to  a  union  of  office 
workers  and  typists  which  well  illustrates  the 
point.  Wholly  apart  from  the  merits  of  the 
question  upon  which  I  do  not  attempt  to  pass 
judgment,  it  is  interesting  to  see  the  familiar 
attitude  taken  by  some  of  the  union  leaders 
who,  as  their  employers,  opposed  the  organiza- 
tion and  the  recognition  of  the  stenographers. 
Their  words  might  have  been  taken  verbatim 
from  the  lips  of  the  average  employer  whom 
they  are  daily  trying  to  outwit.  Like  the  em- 
ployer, these  trade  unionists  conceived  of  the 
office  force  of  the  unions  as  "theirs,"  and 
thought  themselves  fully  able  to  judge  what 
the  best  interests  of  the  stenographers  were. 
I  am  indebted  to  Mr.  John  Fitch  ^  for  the 
following  account  of  the  controversy:  — 

The  delegates,  especially  those  who  were  offi- 
cers of  international  unions,  did  not  feel  that 
they  were  dealing  with  a  union  of  coordinate 
rank  —  they  were  employers  who  were  con- 
fronted with  a  proposition  from  the  union  of 
their  own  employees.  So  they  acted  and  talked 
just  as  employers  do.  William  Dobson,  secre- 
tary of  the  Bricklayers'  International  Union,  re- 

*  See  The  Survey^  December  i,  191 7. 

74 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  POSSESSION 

marked,  "The  employees  of  the  international  or- 
ganizations have  no  need  of  a  union."  He  stated 
that  they  have  short  hours,  good  wages,  and 
that,  so  far  as  he  was  concerned,  "I  go  around 
every  morning  and  speak  to  the  employees,  say 
good  morning,  and  if  any  of  them  are  not  feeling 
well,  I  send  them  home." 

Dobson  was  very  indignant  over  the  attitude 
of  the  stenographers'  union.  He  said  that  be- 
cause their  employers  are  union  men,  they  think 
they  can  hold  them  up.  "I  for  one,"  he  told  the 
convention,  "refuse  to  be  blackmailed."  The 
convention  saw  the  matter  in  the  same  light  as 
did  the  international  officials,  and  refused  a 
charter  to  this  impertinent  organization. 

Mr.  Laidler  cites  an  interesting  case  which 
well  illustrates  how,  in  order  to  satisfy  the 
normal  claims  of  one  instinct,  people  will  em- 
ploy the  whole  social  organization  of  life 
and  the  control  of  the  remaining  instincts.  He 
says :  — 

In  northern  France,  the  farmers,  renters  of 
land,  claimed  not  only  the  right  of  perpetual 
enjoyment  of  the  plot  of  land  which  they  occu- 
pied, but  also  power  to  dispose  of  this  right  to 
their  representative  by  sale  or  will.  They  also 
denied  the  right  of  the  landlord  to  let  or  sell  their 
land  over  their  heads,  to  evict  them  from  their 
holdings,  to  raise  the  rent  or  to  refuse  to  lease 

75 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

the  land  to  their  nominees.  For  this  right,  which 
was  in  conflict  with  the  French  law,  the  farmers 
paid  a  certain  premium,  and  if  the  landlord  had 
the  temerity  to  refuse  to  recognize  these  unwrit- 
ten laws,  the  aggrieved  renter  would  hasten  to 
the  village  cabaret,  and  indignantly  inform  his 
neighbors,  "/<?  n^ai  jamais  demonte  personne; 
j^espere  que  personne  ne  me  demontera."  (I  have 
never  yet  dispossessed  any  one;  I  hope  that  no 
one  will  dispossess  me.)  The  farm  was  then  boy- 
cotted by  the  countryside.  It  was  almost  im- 
possible to  rent  it.  A  new  tenant  was  denounced 
as  a  land-grabber.  He  could  not  hire  labor.  His 
sons  obtained  no  employment;  his  daughters, 
no  husbands.  He  was  ostracized  by  his  neigh- 
bors, who  refused  him  assistance.  His  fields  were 
often  sown  with  tares  by  men  with  masks;  his 
implements  were  broken;  his  cattle  mutilated; 
his  houses  burned;  and  sometimes  he  himself 
was  fiercely  attacked.  In  one  instance,  when  a 
farmer  was  hanged  for  participating  in  these 
onslaughts,  his  fellow-farmers  decreed  that  the 
wealthiest  bachelor  in  town  should  marry  the 
dead  man's  widow,  and  secure  a  dower  from  the 
town,  ^'et  la  chose  fute  executee.''  This  system 
lasted  from  1697  until  far  into  the  nineteenth 
century,  and  resulted  in  many  bitter  feuds.  ^ 

This  bit  of  history  is  valuable  as  showing 
how,  by  an  appeal  to  the  sense  of  family  pride, 

*  See  Harry   W.  Laidler,  Boycotts  and  the  Labor 

Struggle,  p.  28. 

76 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  POSSESSION 

personal  prestige,  group  loyalty,  the  fighting 
spirit  against  the  landlord,  and  the  farmer's 
interests  in  good  agricultural  workmanship, 
the  individual  renter  is  made  to  stand  pat  on 
his  possessions. 

The  desire  for  a  home  grows,  in  part  at  least, 
out  of  the  strength  of  this  instinct  of  posses- 
sion. We  get  a  better  understanding  of  the 
restlessness  of  workers  when  we  remember  the 
extent  to  which  desire  for  a  home  and  for  the 
few  permanent  possessions  which  it  involves 
is  to-day  denied.  The  ordinary  manual  worker 
lives  in  a  hired  tenement  of  from  two  to  five 
rooms  which  he  pays  for  by  the  week  and 
from  which  he  may  be  evicted  at  short  notice. 
This  means  that  the  picture  of  his  own  old  age 
which  the  manual  worker  foresees  is  one  in 
which  he  is  either  dependent  upon  the  gratuity 
of  his  children  or  the  charity  of  the  State.  If 
in  addition  the  worker  happens  also  to  live  in 
a  **  company  house,**  or  in  a  **  company  town," 
his  sense  of  empty-handed  impotence  is  in- 
tensified many  fold.  **Home"  has  in  this  event 
little  permanent  or  deeply  emotional  meaning. 
The  landlord  employer  owns  the  employee's 

77 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

job,  his  house,  perhaps  his  church,  the  streets, 
and  the  school  where  his  ^ildren  are  being 
educated.  What  of  stability,  security,  tran- 
quil **at-homeness'*  can  the  tenant  wage^ 
earner  feel  as  he  smokes  his  pipe  on  the  hired 
front  doorstep  which  overlooks  the  mill  ? 

This  situation  in  its  vamng  stages  of  acute- 
ness  lends  meaning  to  all  the  impassioned 
activity  of  workers  who  are  seeking  a  sufficient 
wage  to  admit  of  insurance  and  of  saving  for 
old  age.  Indeed,  when  we  realize  that  the 
parental  instinct,  the  instinct  of  possessbn, 
of  self-assertion,  of  gregariousness,  and  of  pug- 
nacity are  all  focused  in  this  struggle  for  the 
higher  economic  status  which  is  implied  in 
having  a  home,  we  begin  to  see  valid  biolog- 
ical reasons  why  passion  and  violence  attend 
the  contest  for  more  wages,  shorter  hours,  and 
better  conditions.  And  we  see  further  why, 
when  these  instincts  have  been  strongly  re- 
pressed, they  finally  work  themselves  out  in  a 
way  completely  contrary  to  their  normal  ex- 
pression and  with  redoubled  animus.  At  such 
times  workers  become  either  carelessly  or 
aggressively  indifferent  to  property  which  is 

78 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  POSSESSION 

not  their  own.  A  deliberate  delight  in  de- 
struction may  creep  in;  and  a  seemingly  un- 
natural satisfaction  in  it  be  evidenced.  This 
was  precisely  what  took  place  in  East  Youngs- 
town,  Ohio,  under  exactly  the  conditions  we 
have  enumerated :  — 

...  A  mob  of  strikers  .  .  .  suddenly  turned 
themselves  loose  to  burn  and  pillage  and  destroy, 
and  had  not  stopped  until  many  had  been 
wounded  —  three  men  fatally  —  and  four  com- 
plete city  blocks,  mostly  of  brick  exterior,  and 
parts  of  other  blocks  had  been  given  to  the  flames 
and  utterly  destroyed.^ 

Indeed,  this  tendency  toward  careless  dis- 
regard of  the  property  of  others  —  evidencing 
also  apparently  a  degree  of  pugnacity — may 
show  itself  in  many  ways  which  seriously 
handicap  the  economical  running  of  industry. 
Take,  for  example,  the  problem  of  spoiled 
material.  Unless  there  is  some  specific  effort 
to  counteract  it  by  campaigns  of  record-keep- 
ing or  other  means,  employers  are  almost  sure 
to  be  confronted  with  an  unnecessarily  high 
percentage  of  waste  and  scrap.   We  see  em- 

^  John  A.  Fitch,  "Arson  and  Citizenship,"  in  The 
Survey,  January  22,  191 7. 

.79 


mSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

ployees  negligent  of  machinery  and  likely  to 
handle  destructively  toilet  facilities,  toweling, 
and  the  like.  On  the  occasion  of  a  walk-out 
in  a  large  tire  factory  the  workers  took  par- 
ticular care  to  leave  at  an  hour  when  the  vulcan- 
izers  were  full  of  tires  which  would  spoil  com- 
pletely if  not  promptly  removed. 

In  factories,  on  the  other  hand,  where  there 
is  a  sense  of  proprietorship  gained  through 
profit-sharing  or  some  other  device,  we  find 
workers*  instinct  of  possession  extending 
throughout  the  whole  factory  to  the  point 
that  they  watch  carefully  the  conduct  of  each 
new  employee  to  be  sure  that  he  is  working 
at  maximum  economy  and  efficiency.  And 
they  are  quick  to  make  plain  to  him  their  dis- 
approval if  he  is  wasteful  or  lazy. 

The  instance  of  the  Maison  Leclair,  the 
famous  cooperative  decorating  concern  of 
Paris,  is  of  special  significance  in  this  connec- 
tion.^ A  substantial  part  of  the  success  of  this 
establishment  comes  from  the  saving  in  mate- 

^  See  an  interesting  account  of  this  enterprise  in 
Copartnership  and  Profit-Sharing,  by  A.  Williams, 
Home  University  Library  Series,  pp.  29-42. 

80 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  POSSESSION 

rial  by  cooperating  workers  and  from  the  fact 

that  they  work  harder  than  do  hired  artisans 

of  the  sort  pictured  in  Robert  Tressal's  novel. * 

And  the  dominant  fact  about  the  Maison  Le- 

clair  is  that  the  workers  are  its  owners. 

It  is  also  true,  as  the  following  quotation 

points  out,  that  the  possession  of  property 

up  to  a  certain  point  is  encouraged  by  astute 

employers  in  order  simply  to  offset  demands 

for  fundamental  justice.    Say  the  authors  of 

*' Profit  Sharing,  Its  Principles  and  Practice":'' 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  stock  plans  are 
frequently  introduced  because  of  the  desire  to 
prevent  or  to  weaken  the  organization  of  labor, 
the  hope  that  expensive  strikes  and  industrial 
disputes  will  be  done  away  with,  and  the  wish 
to  lessen  the  antagonism  of  workmen  towards 
the  corporation.  Such  plans  rest  largely  upon 
the  assumption  that  an  employee  who  is  a  stock- 
owner  in  the  concern  will  be  less  likely  to  go  out 
on  strike,  will  be  less  easily  influenced  by  "agi- 
tators," and  will  be  more  likely  to  take  the  view- 
point of  the  owners  or  managers.  The  sense  of 
proprietorship  in  the  business  which  may  arise 
from  stock-ownership  will,  it  is  hoped,  bear  fruit  in 
an  increased  loyalty  to  the  interests  of  the  concern. 

*  See  antey  p.  27. 

2  A  collaboration  published  by  Harper  &  Brothers, 
New  York,  19 18. 

81 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

Out  of  the  promptings  of  this  instinct  which 
impels  us  to  acquire  and  to  accumulate  grows 
in  substantial  measure  the  average  working- 
man's  sense  of  being  thwarted  and  cheated  in 
the  distribution  of  this  world's  goods.  It  is 
around  property  and  the  acquisition  of  prop- 
erty, with  all  the  satisfactions  which  that  may 
involve,  that  the  antagonisms  of  modern  in- 
dustry so  largely  arise.  The  essential  nature 
of  our  economic  system  is  to  be  comprehended 
only  as  we  visualize  this  conflict  of  interests 
which  the  legitimate  desire  for  goods  accen- 
tuates. The  effort  to  satisfy  the  yearning  for 
ownership  arrays  us  against  each  other  indi- 
vidually and  in  groups  whose  kindred  economic 
interests  have  become  apparent.  And  the 
conflict  which  comes  out  of  this  strong  desire 
and  this  alignment  of  groups  is  to  be  lessened 
only  by  giving  the  desire  some  measure  of  satis- 
faction or  by  turning  the  attention  and  the 
impulse  in  another  direction. 

This  last  suggestion  carries  with  it  an  in- 
teresting implication  which  some  shrewd  man- 
ufacturers have  seen  and  acted  upon.  They 
have  found  that,  by  paying  wages  and  giv- 

•82 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  POSSESSION 

ing  working  conditions  that  are  substantially 
more  attractive  than  those  of  their  competi- 
tors, they  are  able  to  keep  just  ahead  of  the 
demands  of  their  workers;  and  by  so  doing 
they  create  an  appearance  of  generosity  and 
contentment  which  distracts  the  attention  of 
employees  from  their  normal  desire  to  get  as 
much  pay  as  they  can  and  as  the  success  of  the 
business  warrants.  Indeed,  certain  employers 
have  thus  held  in  abeyance  for  years  the  con- 
flict to  which  the  desires  of  employees  naturally 
impel.  Contrast  with  this  policy  the  experi- 
ence of  a  highly  prosperous  New  England 
textile  factory  where  wages  were  low.  There, 
upon  the  newspaper  announcement  of  company 
earnings  much  higher  than  the  usual  dividend, 
the  weavers  sent  the  management  an  ultima- 
tum to  the  eff^ect  that  unless  a  wage  increase 
demand  was  granted  by  noon  they  would  walk 
out.  And  they  walked  out. 

The  strength  of  the  instinct  to  possess  and 
accumulate  has  undoubtedly  been  popularly 
overestimated.  It  is  true  that  it  has  no  in- 
herent limits  at  which  satisfaction  is  secured. 
But  it  is  also  true  that  the  extent  to  which 

83 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

it  is  modified  by  the  operation  of  other  in- 
stincts has  been  underestimated.  To  con- 
ceive of  the  majority  of  people  as  potential 
hoarders  and  fanatical  accumulators  is  to  at- 
tribute the  instincts  of  the  squirrel  or  bee  to 
organisms  which  are  vastly  more  complex  in 
function  and  motive.  The  accentuation  of  this 
instinct  has  come  about  through  a  long  dis- 
cipline of  poverty,  material  deprivation,  and 
*' deficit,"  as  Professor  Patten  has  expressed 
it. '  The  difficulty  of  obtaining  adequate  sus- 
tenance in  the  temperate  zones  has  placed  a 
premium  upon  thrift,  forethought,  and  ac- 
cumulation. We  have  not,  until  recently,  en- 
joyed an  "  economy  of  surplus  " ;  and  even  now 
when  war  interrupts  our  industrial  life  we  are 
faced  with  the  problem  of  "  hoarders, "  who 
in  self-protection  seek  to  anticipate  a  food  or 
coal  or  clothing  shortage.  Normally,  however, 
if  our  system  of  distribution  were  a  compe- 
tent one,  there  are  enough  of  the  material 
necessities  to  go  around;  and  whenever  we 
decide  to  guarantee  the  necessaries  of  life  to 
all  deserving  citizens  we  shall  unquestionably 
witness  some  relaxation  of  this  feverish  anx- 

84 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  POSSESSION 

lety  to  amass  wealth  and  goods.  It  can  be 
confidently  predicted  that  this  instinct  will 
not  resume  a  more  normal  functioning  until 
people  can  more  nearly  take  for  granted  the 
self-preservation  which  it  is  calculated  to 
assure. 

But  this  is  not  the  whole  story.  In  the 
money  economy  under  which  we  live  the  ex- 
tent of  possession  is  the  measure  of  the  indi- 
vidual's place  and  prestige.  A  situation  has 
been  created  in  which  people  desire  to  pos- 
sess, not  to  satisfy  so  much  the  possessive  as 
the  self-assertive  impulse.  As  long  as  this  re- 
mains true,  as  long  as  this  inordinate  desire 
conspicuously  to  display  one's  material  advan- 
tage gives  in  the  minds  of  others  a  psychologi- 
cal advantage,  this  abnormal  zest  for  pecuni- 
ary accumulation  will  endure. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  INSTINCT  OF  SELF-ASSERTION,  SELF- 
DISPLAY,  MASTERY,  DOMINATION 
EMULATION,  OR  "GIVE-A-LEAD" 

The  kernel  of  fact  about  human  nature  rep- 
resented by  these  names  is  the  familiar  im- 
pulse to  rise  above  the  dead  level  of  human- 
ity and  be  an  individual.  And  they  may  con- 
note an  additional  urge  to  impose  one's  self 
and  one's  will  upon  one's  fellow-men.  The 
mere  statement  of  this  characteristic  leads  to 
a  realization  that  we  have  here  a  valuable 
impulse  which  is  allowed  little  satisfaction  in 
industry  to-day. 

To  be  sure,  the  degree  of  its  intensity  varies 
enormously  among  individuals.  Indeed,  there 
are  those  who  will  say  that  this  variation  — 
which  occurs  to  a  greater  or  less  extent  in 
the  intensity  of  all  the  instincts  —  precludes 
the  possibility  of  a  ** problem"  as  to  whether 
impulses  do  or  do  not  gain  expression.  This 
raises  a  fundamental  question  which  may  as 
well  be  met  at  this  time.  The  contention  is, 

86 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  SELF-ASSERTION 

of  course,  that  if  the  individual  has  strong  de- 
sires he  will  act  upon  them;  if  he  does  not  act 
the  desires  are  not  present  —  or  at  least  are 
not  sufficiently  urgent  to  make  their  repres- 
sion a  matter  of  any  concern.  But  clearly  the 
extent  of  one's  efforts  to  give  expression  to 
his  impulses  is  no  guide  to  their  strength  or 
intensity.  Men  isolated  in  construction  or 
lumber  camps  do  not  have  adequate  oppor- 
tunity to  satisfy  the  sex  instinct.  The  desire 
for  play  and  relaxation  may  amount  to  a  pas- 
sion in  a  group  of  overworked  mill  hands  or 
store  clerks,  but  if  they  are  so  thoroughly  ex- 
hausted at  the  day's  end  that  they  can  only 
throw  themselves  on  their  beds,  the  recreative 
impulse  gets  no  outlet.  It  becomes  obvious, 
therefore,  that  the  fact  of  non-satisfaction  of  a 
native  impulse  is  of  itself  no  indication  of  the 
strength  of  that  impulse.  There  will  be  times 
when  the  surface  evidences  of  repression  are 
few,  —  which  is  one  of  the  most  important 
reasons  why  a  knowledge  of  previous  behavior 
under  similar  circumstances,  and  a  knowledge 
of  the  causes  of  that  behavior,  is  of  value  in 
helping  us  to  anticipate  and  prevent  difficul- 

87' 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

ties.  Under  present  industrial  conditions, 
moreover,  the  endowments  of  thousands  have 
never  had  a  fair  chance  to  be  known  or  ex- 
pressed. "  The  constant  and  gratified  surprise 
with  which  Hannibal,  in  Mr.  McFee's  ** Cas- 
uals of  the  Sea,"  discovers  the  reserve  powers 
in  himself  as  circumstances  call  them  out ;  the 
pitiful  grief  with  which  Lord  Jim  in  Joseph 
Conrad's  novel  of  that  name  discovers  his 
limitations  under  the  crucial  strain  —  these 
illustrate  how  wary  we  must  be  of  saying  that 
the  world  has  allowed  the  individual  a  repre- 
sentative chance  to  act  in  proportion  to  the 
strength  of  his  powers.  Our  instinctive  re- 
sponses are  modified  by  environment,  by 
training,  by  the  relative  strength  of  inherited 
tendencies. 

Although  manual  workers  in  consequence 
of  a  long  tradition  of  servility  may  appear 
at  times  to  be  without  a  normal  sense  of  asser- 
tiveness,  the  appearance  cannot  be  trusted. 
The  writer  visited  a  meeting  of  a  local  trade- 
union  in  the  Middle  West  in  the  evening  after 
an  investigation  of  the  shop  in  which  nearly 
all  the  men  worked.    And  the  most  note- 

88; 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  SELF-ASSERTION 

worthy  impression  derived  from  the  gather- 
ing was  of  the  initiative  and  ability  of  men 
who  in  a  conference  held  in  the  forenoon  with 
the  shop  foreman  had  hardly  dared  to  open 
their  mouths.  The  testimony  is  general  that 
away  from  the  accustomed  restrictions  of  the 
bench,  workmen  display  an  ability  and  leader- 
ship which  would  be  wholly  unexpected  from 
their  conduct  in  the  shop.  It  must  be  remem- 
bered that  it  is  precisely  these  docile  and 
deferential  employees  who  have  been  the 
agents  of  the  progress  of  organized  labor,  of 
fraternal  organizations,  of  the  consumers* 
cooperative  movement,  and  of  lesser  working- 
class  movements  of  a  religious,  political,  and 
protective  character. 

Despite  their  reputation  for  docility  and 
meekness,  it  is  inevitable  that  our  southern 
and  eastern  European  immigrant  workers 
should  occasionally  belie  their  reputation  and 
participate  in  a  brave  frenzy  of  self-assertion. 
The  whole  atmosphere  of  our  country,  with 
its  aggressiveness  and  individualism  coupled 
with  the  fact  of  their  exploitation,  tends  to 
rouse  these  workers  to  demonstrate  in  blind, 

89 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

eager,  and  intense  ways  that  they  are  not 
pack-animals  but  human  beings.  The  im- 
passioned uprising  at  Trinidad,  at  Mesaba 
Range,  at  Bayonne,  at  Youngstown,  at  Law- 
rence, and  at  Paterson  are  only  the  normal 
fulfillment  of  this  expectation.^  And  instead 
of  being  provoked  or  puzzled  at  the  white 
heat  which  their  revolt  sometimes  kindles,  we 
should  be  gratified  lo  find  that  the  essential 
humanity  of  these  hard-pressed  workers  is 
still  unimpaired. 

Further  discussion  of  this  instinct  will  gain 
in  clearness  if  we  differentiate  in  self-asser- 
tiveness  between  love  of  prominence  and  a 
love  of  power.  The  desire  for  prominence  has 
already  been  recognized  in  a  practical  way 
by  those  managers  of  industry  who  make  use 
of  friendly  rivalry  and  competition  within  and 
between  departments.  Only  recently  a  manu- 
facturer admitted  to  me,  almost  with  chagrin, 
that  the  response  in  better  work  and  quan- 
tity was  almost  unbelievable  when   he  pre- 

^  In  The  Dzvelling-Place  of  Light,  Winston  Church- 
ill's recent  novel,  there  is  a  spirited  narration  of  one 
such  uprising,  the  details  of  which  are  obviously  sug- 
gested by  the  Lawrence  strike. 

90 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  SELF-ASSERTION 

sented  from  month  to  month  a  silken  gold- 
lettered  banner  to  the  department  with  the 
best  production  record  for  the  preceding  month. 
He  stated  that  workmen  would  see  the  banner 
leave  their  department  with  tears  in  their 
eyes!  Mr.  Charles  Schwab  tells  of  going  into 
one  of  his  foundries  and  asking  the  number  of 
heats  which  the  shift  had  done  that  day.  He 
chalked  the  number,  which  was  seven,  on  the 
foundry  wall  and  left  without  further  com- 
ment. The  next  shift,  having  asked  the  mean- 
ing of  the  figure  on  the  wall,  erased  it  at  the 
end  of  their  work  and  wrote  the  figure  eight. 
In  a  few  days  the  amount  of  production  of  the 
foundry  had  been  substantially  and  perma- 
nently increased. 

The  Manchester  Guardian  ^   tells  a  similar 
tale  from  a  munitions  plant  in  which 

the  daily  output  of  each  of  the  three  shifts  is 
chalked  on  a  blackboard.  The  numbers  are  care- 
fully scanned  by  each  group  of  workers  and  the 
maximum  is  the  standard  each  sets  out  to 
achieve.  In  a  neighboring  establishment  a  shield 
is  awarded  to  the  shift  v/hich  tops  the  list.  It 
is  made  of  paper,  and  the  honor  of  winning  it  is 

^  Manchester  Guardian^  November  12,  1915- 

.91 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

its  only  value,  but  the  sporting  instincts  of  York-' 
shire  men  and  Yorkshire  women  prompt  them 
to  double  their  energies  to  gain  it.  The  knowl- 
edge that  they  have  earned  a  title  to  a  scrap  of 
paper  is  as  proud  a  possession  to  these  humble 
toilers  for  the  empire  as  were  the  laurels  given  to 
the  Greek  Marathon  victor.  , 

Kirkaldy  ^  indicates  in  the  following  quo- 
tation how  this  tendency  may  be  abused  — 
an  incident  which  illustrates  also  how  com- 
plete satisfaction  of  an  instinct  may  be  harm- 
ful:- 

To  the  woman  worker,  undoubtedly,  this  bo- 
nus is  a  very  strong  temptation  to  injurious 
over-exertion;  and  one  example  was  given  in  the 
course  of  the  inquiry  where  a  woman  had  won 
a  "shift"  bonus  by  turning  out  132  shells  (nose- 
profiling)  in  one  shift  where  the  normal  output 
was  100  shells,  and  had  had,  as  a  result,  to  re- 
main in  bed  on  the  following  day.  When  it  was 
pointed  out  to  her  later  that  she  had  acted  fool- 
ishly, her  reply  was  that  she  knew,  but  she 
"was  n't  going  to  be  beat." 

The  men  workers  who  have  been  at  the 
game  longer  have  found  it  necessary  to  make 
specific   provision  to  protect  themselves  from 

2  Kirkaldy,  A.  W.,  Labour,  Finance,  and  the  War^ 
p.  117. 

92 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  SELF-ASSERTION 

workers  with  this  indomitable  spirit  of  not 
"going  to  be  beat."  Individual  ambition  and 
emulative  spirit  would  naturally  prompt  a 
body  of  men  working  regularly  together  to 
friendly  competition  in  the  amount  of  output. 
Yet  in  the  face  of  this  natural  tendency  the 
unions  have  nearly  always  insisted  upon  the 
necessity  for  uniform  standard  rates  of  pay 
for  week  work  and  for  fairly  well-established 
maximum  and  minimum  earnings  where  piece- 
work was  in  vogue.  And  the  reason  for  this 
stand  is  well  suggested  in  the  above  illustra- 
tion. The  union  wants  to  preserve  a  safe,  long- 
time working  pace ;  and  it  wants,  moreover,  to 
have  some  assurance  that  where  increased  pro- 
duction results  labor  shall  have  some  voice  in 
dividing  the  surplus  income.  It  would  be  most 
unsound  to  conclude  that  labor  organizations 
wish  to  place  self-assertiveness  under  a  ban; 
their  intention  is  merely  to  protect  the  less 
aggressive  and  less  ambitious  men  from  being 
pushed  to  the  wall  in  any  fruitless  struggle 
for  a  survival  of  the  fit  in  each  shop.  In  this 
case,  naive  obedience  to  instinct  would  be 
disastrous.    Each  individual  worker  produces 

93 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

all  he  can  only  at  the  probable  danger  of  soon 
wearing  himself  out  and  of  seeing  his  rate  of 
pay  fall  lower  and  lower. 

It  is  in  part  due  to  a  tacit  recognition  of  the 
vitality  of  this  instinct  that  the  "task  and 
bonus'*  method  of  payment  has  been  evolved 
by  the  scientific  management  group.  If  in  the 
day's  work  there  is  offered  the  chance  to  excel 
by  means  that  bring  public  and  pecuniary 
acknowledgment,  people  are  normally  to  be 
counted  upon  to  accept  the  challenge.  The 
publication  of  "  efficiency  ratings,"  the  honor- 
ing of  the  "fast  team"  by  putting  its  picture 
in  the  company  paper,  the  bestowing  of  yearly 
prizes  —  these  are  all  methods  calculated  to 
give  satisfaction  to  the  employees'  sense  of 
"give-a-lead"  —  a  satisfaction  in  which  the 
employer  shares  because  of  the  increased  pro- 
duction which  accrues  and  the  proportionately 
larger  fraction  of  the  gain  which  falls  to  him. 

The  desire  for  prominence  and  display  may 
also,  as  we  have  pointed  out  in  discussing  the 
parental  instinct,  lead  to  a  standard  of  living 
and  to  a  scale  of  expenditure  quite  unwar- 
ranted  by  one's  income.    The  family  which 

94 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  SELF-ASSERTION* 

mortgages  its  house  to  buy  an  automobile,  the 
employee  who  "  has  n't  missed  a  day  in  fif- 
teen years,"  the  laborer  who  sends  all  his  sons 
to  high  school  —  all  are  endeavoring  in  their 
own  way  to  make  their  impress  on  the  world. 

The  yearning  for  place  and  power  in  the 
working-class  is  doubly  intensified  by  Xhj6 
difficulty  of  shaking  one's  self  free  from  the 
deadening  drag  of  factory  labor.  The  auto- 
cratic manner  and  even  the  high-handed 
methods  of  occasional  trade-union  leaders  are 
to  be  understood,  not  as  arrogant  expression 
of  authority  felt  to  be  absolute,  but  rather 
as  growing  out  of  the  instinctive  necessity  to 
assert  power  for  the  satisfaction  to  be  derived 
from  the  assertion.  There  have  unquestionably 
been  instances  where  the  will  to  power  has 
run  away  with  labor  leaders  precisely  as  it 
has  with  influential  capitalists.  But  it  is  not 
to  be  wondered  that  the  labor  leader  of  incon- 
spicuous origin  should  upon  accession  to  power 
feel  impelled  to  satisfy  his  sense  of  mastery 
even  at  the  sacrifice  of  his  other  interests. 

Interesting  examples  of  this  almost  indis- 
criminate assertion  of  power  are  to  be  found 

95 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

occasionally  in  trade-union  circles.  In  one  case, 
a  caulker  was  discharged  because  he  could  not 
get  along  with  the  superintendent  of  the  ship- 
yard. The  union  apparently  agreed  that  he 
was  better  occupied  elsewhere  and  his  fare 
was  paid  to  another  yard  where  employment 
was  secured.  In  three  days  the  caulker  was 
back  demanding  reinstatement,  and  he  had 
his  whole  union  "by  the  ears"  trying  to  get 
him  back.  I  recall  a  similar  instance  in  a  local 
union  of  painters  where  five  out  of  a  member- 
ship of  one  hundred  and  twenty-six  were  dis- 
affected about  the  terms  of  employment  and 
they  were  able  by  wearisome  reiteration  to 
impress  the  rest  with  the  necessity  of  making 
new  demands.  I  am  not  citing  these  as  exam- 
ples necessarily  of  unstrategic  assertiveness ; 
but  there  does  often  come  a  time  when  from 
the  outsider's  point  of  view  the  wiser  course 
is  in  the  direction  of  a  less  rigid  stand  for  one's 
"rights." 

Not  infrequently,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
will  to  power  may  bring  the  leader  among 
working-men  into  such  sharp  conflict  with 
those  who  hold  the  economic  or  political  power 

96 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  SELF-ASSERTION 

that  the. price  paid  for  an  attempt  to  satisfy 
the  impulse  will  seem  out  of  proportion  to  the 
satisfaction.  The  committee  of  three  trade- 
unionists  who  recently  signed  a  protesting 
communication  to  a  large  metropolitan  street 
railway  were  summarily  discharged.  Those 
known  to  be  union  officials  are  again  and 
again  discriminated  against  in  the  factory  in 
all  sorts  of  ways.  In  fact,  one  of  the  crucial 
reasons  why  the  business  agent  of  the  union 
is  necessary  and  powerful  is  that  he  can  speak 
for  men  in  a  shop  who  are  afraid  to  speak 
for  themselves  because  of  the  likelihood  of 
discharge  or  adverse  discrimination.  This  in- 
stinct of  assertiveness  is  not  one,  therefore, 
which  gets  any  large  encouragement  in  work- 
ing-class environment.  Indeed,  it  gets  far  less 
than  its  merits. 

Among  the  reasons  for  this  self-repression 
of  individuality  is  the  fear  of  being  cut  off  from 
a  job  and  the  sources  of  livelihood.  Condi- 
tions in  one  Eastern  city  were  to  my  knowl- 
edge such  that  if  a  group  of  men  gathered  in  a 
boarding-house  in  the  evening  to  make  plans 
for  an  effective  protest  at  their  low  wages, 

97 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

every  one  of  the  men  was  picked  out  in  the 
shop  with  unerring  accuracy  the  next  day  and 
discharged.  And  the  names  of  the  ringleaders 
were  known  and  communicated  to  the  secre- 
tary of  the  local  and  county  manufacturers* 
association  who  kept  a  list,  politely  known 
as  the  "  employment  list,"  of  men  who  were 
known  to  be  faithful  and  obedient  workers. 
To  the  extent  that  employers  are  known  to 
employ  detectives  and  to  buy  their  way  into 
union  councils,  it  is  not  surprising  that  work- 
ers are  cautious,  mutually  suspicious,  and  un- 
cooperative. Unfortunately  employment  of 
detectives  as  a  means  of  anticipating  trouble 
in  the  shop  does  not  seem  to  be  on  the  decrease ; 
and  so  long  as  this  pernicious  and  cowardly 
practice  is  countenanced  we  can  expect  no 
liberal  display  of  the  best  sort  pf  working  class 
initiative  and  no  diminution  of  that  attitude 
of  suspicion  and  hostility  to  the  management 
which  prevails  in  factories  where  detectives 
are  known  to  be  at  work. 

Another  example  of  this  kind  of  practice 
recently  came  to  light  in  a  large  department 
store  where  the  workers  were  known  to  be 

98 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  SELF-ASSERTION 

anxious  to  organize  unions.  The  employer, 
in  order  "  to  nip  the  movement  in  the  bud,'* 
got  hold  of  a  disgruntled  employee  and  ar- 
ranged that  he  should  seemingly  lead  in  the 
moveriient  to  organize  the  clerical  employees. 
A  meeting  at  which  the  "black-leg"  presided 
brought  together  nearly  thirty  nien,  all  but 
one  of  whom  signed  a  paper  signifying  their 
desire  to  join  the  union.  The  next  day  every 
one  of  the  signers  was  summarily  discharged, 
despite  the  fact  that  several  of  them  had  been 
faithful  and  satisfactory  employees  for  oyer 
twenty  years. 

In  the  same  city,  at  the  time  of  this  con- 
certed interest  in  department  store  organiza- 
tion, the  members  of  a  new  organization  in 
another  store  were  discovered  through  the 
theft  by  an  agent  of  the  company,  of  the  union 
secretary's  minute  book  which  contained  the 
names  and  addresses  of  the  members;  and 
they  too  were  discharged.  At  the  Philadelphia 
hearings  of  the  Shipbuilding  Labor  Adjust- 
ment Board  in  Deceqiber,  191 7,  one  of  the 
workers  said:  "In  some  yards  men  are  liable 
to  lose  their  jobs  if  they  object  to  conditions 

99 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

established  there.  .  .  .  What  good  would  it 
be  for  a  man  to  make  a  complaint  under  those 
conditions?" 

Similar  testimony  was  brought  before  this 
same  board  in  Portland,  Oregon.  The  em- 
ployer in  a  big  metal-working  shop  refused 
absolutely  to  negotiate  a  collective  agreement 
with  the  union,  but  he  was  willing  and  did 
enter  into  a  written  understanding  with  his 
own  employees.  Six  months  later,  during 
some  further  trouble,  the  fact  developed  that 
only  one  member  of  the  original  workers'  com- 
mittee which  made  the  demands  was  still  em- 
ployed. The  others  on  one  pretext  or  another 
had  been  quietly  dropped  from  the  pay-roll. 
Under  those  conditions,  as  the  Philadelphia, 
journeyman  pertinently  inquired,  what  good 
would  it  do  for  a  man  to  complain  r 

The  price  of  a  working-man's  self-asser- 
tlveness  can  indeed  be  terrifically  high.  I 
have  known  several  able  and  powerful  figures 
in  the  more  radical  wing  of  the  labor  move- 
ment who  after  years  of  effective  leadership 
have  for  one  reason  and  another  been  super- 
seded by  younger  men.  Their  plight  is  pitiable. 

100 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  SELF-ASSERTION 

They  are  known  in  the  employing  world  as 
pro-labor;  and  they  are  not  made  use  of  by 
the  labor  world  itself.  Their  means  of  support 
are  greatly  restricted  and  their  pride  naturally 
forbids  the  seeking  of  charity  or  subsidy.  We 
are  wont  to  lament  the  submissiveness  of  the 
working-class;  it  is  indeed  a  cause  of  anxiety. 
But  let  no  one  speak  lightly  of  the  valiant 
efforts  which  have  been  made  to  lead  the  work- 
ers into  a  more  secure  and  respected  position 
in  the  community.  We  must  in  every  con- 
ceivable way  make  it  possible  for  the  manual 
worker  to  assert  himself  without  the  appalling 
sacrifice  which  he  must  now  endure.  The 
pathetic  figure  of  Joe  Kramer  in  Ernest  Poole's 
"The  Harbor"  has  its  counterpart  in  real  life 
in  the  head  of  one  of  the  strongest  interna- 
tional unions.  When  recently  threatened  with 
a  prison  sentence  this  man  said  scornfully: 
"What  have  I  to  fear  or  to  lose?  I  have  given 
everything  I  had  to  the  labor  movement.  I 
have  no  wife,  no  home,  no  friends."  And  this 
was  true. 

Not  the  least  of  the  effective  restraints  upon 
the  activity  of  this  impulse  is  the  fact  that  it 

lOI 

LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  or  CALIFORNIA 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

IS  limited  by  the  amount  of  surplus  energy 
possessed  by  the  individual  or  group.  That 
indefinable  attitude  of  aliveness  and  surging 
vitality  which  results  when  energy  is  not  com- 
pletely absorbed  in  the  daily  grind  seems  to 
be  indispensable  to  a  display  of  individual 
initiative  and  assertiveness.  If  this  is  true, 
it  has  a  valuable  suggestion  as  to  the  way  in 
which  this  impulse  may  be  stimulated.  In- 
deed, the  relation  of  self-assertiveness  to  phys- 
ical and  nervous  vigor  has  been  interestingly 
illustrated  in  the  experience  of  certain  manu- 
facturers with  welfare  work.  There  are  plants 
where  everything  conceivable  has  been  done 
for  the  workers*  welfare.  Towns  have  been  laid 
out,  houses  built  and  sold  on  moderate  terms, 
gardens  ploughed,  clubs  and  bands  organized 
—  everything  calculated  to  make  provision 
for  the  employees'  needs  has  been  provided 
not  only  in  the  community,  but  in  the  shop. 
Yet  in  these  same  factories  have  occurred  some 
of  the  bitterest  strikes  that  American  industry 
has  seen.  Are  those  strikes  to  be  attributed  to 
ingratitude  and  selfishness?  Is  no  more  pro- 
found explanation  of  their  occurrence  at  hand? 

I02 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  SELF-ASSERTION 

In  the  light  of  our  approach  to  the  question 
there  would  certainly  seem  to  be  a  more  rea- 
sonable explanation.  The  workers  are  simul- 
taneously affected  by  two  influences.  They 
are  treated  like  grown-up  children,  which  they 
resent.  And  they  are  provided  for  materially 
in  such  an  adequate  way  that  a  sufficient  sup- 
ply of  energy  and  initiative  is  gradually  stored 
up  and  confined.  When  some  crowning  indig- 
nity finally  comes  they  have  developed  the 
self-respect  to  resent  it  acutely,  and  they  are 
in  possession  of  enough  spirit  to  make  their 
resentment  take  tangible  shape.  A  sense  of 
a  thwarted  impulse  of  self-expression  has  ac- 
cumulated, a  yearning  for  adequate  release 
gets  the  upper  hand;  and  individuals  who  were 
formerly  tractable  and  submissive  are  found 
in  a  time  of  strike  to  have  developed  unbe- 
lievable resources  of  energy,  initiative,  and 
independence.  The  trouble  has  not  been  with 
the  unruly  workers,  but  with  the  paternal 
methods  of  treatment  to  which  they  have  been 
subjected.  This  lesson  has,  unfortunately,  still 
to  be  learned  by  many  employers  whose  out- 
lay on  welfare  work  will  never  bring  in  the 

IP3 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

dividends  that  are  anticipated  so  long  as  hu- 
man nature  remains  as  elastic  and  dynamic  as 
it  is. 

While  it  is  true  that  the  sources  of  efficiency 
and  contentment  and  stability  depend  to  a 
considerable  extent  upon  the  material  secur- 
ity of  the  workers,  it  is  also  true  that  men  who 
are  assured  the  elementary  wants  are  soon 
looking  for  new  worlds  to  conquer,  new  heights 
of  activity  and  achievement  to  attain.  And 
the  only  manufacturer  who  is  playing  into  the 
hands  of  the  future  is  the  one  who  is  making 
provision  not  only  for  bodily  wants,  but  for 
the  larger,  more  generous  spiritual  aspirations 
of  the  workers.  The  wise  employer  is  now  pro- 
viding scope  for  that  element  of  self-asser-, 
tiveness  which  is  furnishing  motive  power  to 
the  movement  for  the  democratic  control  of 
industry  and  of  the  whole  community.  The 
essence  of  democracy  lies  in  the  securing  by 
each  and  every  individual  of  an  adequate 
chance  for  self-expression.  Democracy  is  not 
sought  as  an  end;  it  is  the  attendant  condition 
of  that  free  play  of  human  impulses  which 
is   essential  to  life  —  which  is  life.    Indeed, 

104 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  SELF-ASSERTION 

whatever  will  strengthen  the  physical  basis  of 
self-assertion  and  arouse  the  hig^her  nervous 
centers  into  self-expressive  activity  is  to  be 
adjudged  of  value  in  the  effort  to  secure  for 
society  the  maximum  contribution  of  every 
individual,  and  to  secure  from  society  the 
maximum  benefit  for  all  its  members. 

How  direct  and  definite  in  its  influence  the 
failure  to  provide  a  proper  channel  for  expres- 
sion can  be  is  clearly  indicated  in  the  following 
analysis:  ^ 

While  not  expressed  in  so  many  words,  the 
dominant  feeling  of  protest  was  that  the  indus- 
try was  conducted  upon  an  autocratic  basis. 
The  workers  did  not  have  representation  in 
determining  those  conditions  of  their  employ- 
ment which  vitally  affected  their  lives  as  well 
as  the  company's  output.  Many  complaints 
were,  in  fact,  found  by  the  commission  to  be  un- 
founded, but  there  was  no  safeguard  against 
injustice  except  the  say-so  of  one  side  to  the  con- 
troversy. In  none  of  the  mines  was  there  direct 
dealing  between  companies  and  unions.  In  some 
mines  grievance  committees  had  been  recently 
established,   but    they  were   distrusted   by   the 

^  Report  of  President's  Mediation  Commission  to 
the  President  of  the  United  States,  pp.  6-7. 

los 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

workers  as  subject  to  company  control,  and,  In 
any  event,  were  not  effective,  because  the  final 
determination  of  every  issue  was  left  with  the 
company.  In  place  of  orderly  processes  of  ad- 
justment, workers  were  given  the  alternative  of 
submission  or  strike. 

The  men  sought  the  power  to  secure  indus- 
trial justice  in  matters  of  vital  concern  to  them. 
The  power  they  sought  would  in  no  way  impinge 
on  the  correlative  power  which  must  reside  in 
management.  Only  by  a  proper  balance  of  ade- 
quate power  on  each  side  can  just  equilibrium 
in  industry  be  attained.  In  the  minds  of  the 
workers  oi;ily  the  right  to  organize  secured  them 
an  equality  of  bargaining  power  and  protection 
against  abuses.  There  was  no  demand  for  a 
closed  shop.  There  was  a  demand  for  security 
against  discrimination  directed  at  union  mem- 
bership. The  companies  denied  discrimination, 
but  refused  to  put  the  denial  to  the  reasonable 
test  of  disinterested  adjustment. 

The  men  demanded  the  removal  of  certain 
existing  grievances  as  to  wages,  hours,  and  work- 
ing conditions,  but  the  specific  grievances  were, 
on  the  whole,  of  relatively  minor  importance. 
The  crux  of  the  conflict  was  the  insistence  of  the 
men  that  the  right  and  the  power  to  obtain  just 
treatment  were  in  themselves  basic  conditions 
of  employment,  and  that  they  should  not  be 
compelled  to  depend  for  such  just  treatment  on 
the  benevolence  or  uncontrolled  will  of  the  em- 
ployers. 

io6 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  SELF-ASSERTION 

We  come  finally  to  that  aspect  of  the  self- 
assertive  impulse  which,  although  most  famil- 
iar, is  also  most  ignored.  The  instinct  of  self- 
assertion  is  in  its  simplest  form  a  craving  for 
treatment  that  respects  the  self.  People  want 
in  the  first  instance  to  have  their  self-respect 
unassaulted  and  unimpaired.  It  is  interesting 
to  run  through  Mr.  Bruere's  record  of  West- 
em  employers*  and  officials'  estimates  of  the 
I.W.W.  activities,^  and  see  how  such  sentences 
as  the  following  recur:  — 

The  Wobblies  kept  the  peace  from  that  day. 
What  worked  the  miracle  I  have  never  been 
able  to  understand,  unless  it  was  that  we  guar- 
anteed them  equal  treatment  under  the  law  and 
conferred  with  them  as  if  they  were  human  beings. 

I  talked  very  plainly  to  them,  but  I  talked  to 
them  as  human  beings  and  jiot  as  outcasts  and 
criminals. 

I  never  saw  a  crew  more  radical  than  that 
crew  was  when  I  first  appealed  to  them,  and  I 
never  saw  a  more  loyal  crew  than  most  of  them 
under  fair  treatment. 

All  our  experience  convinces  me  that  these 
local  I.W.W.  men  are  amenable  to  reason  and 
fair  treatment. 

^  Robert  W.  Bruere,  Following  the  Trail  of  the 
I.W.W.  Reprint  from  New  York  Evening  Post. 

107 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

Colonel  Disque  recognized  their  assertion  of 
human  dignity.  .  .  .  He  sent  his  agents  into  the 
woods  to  talk  to  the  lumber  jacks  with  kindly 
good-nature  and  tact,  to  explain  to  them  what 
the  war  was  about  and  to  enlist  their  coopera- 
tion in  his  enterprise.  In  return  he  guaranteed 
them  equal  treatment  before  the  law  .  .  .  and 
promised  to  take  up  their  grievances  on  their 
merits. 

That  this  demand  for  self-respecting  treat- 
ment has  its  suggestion  for  successful  factory 
practice,  is  patent.  The  process  of  selecting 
employees,  for  example,  is  one  that  can  run 
counter  to  every  rightful  claim  of  the  indi- 
vidual for  dignified  and  self-respecting  treat- 
rnent.  Employment  to  the  worker  is  not  merely 
"getting  a  job";  it  involves  a  decision  about 
the  way  in  which  a  man  will  spend  three  fourths 
of  his  waking  time,  and  it  means  the  securing 
of  adequate  maintenance  for  his  family.'  To 
the  worker  emplo3mient  is  a  serious  matter. 
To  the  employer,  for  his  own  reasons,  it  should 
also  be  a  serious  matter.  But  what  often  hap- 
pens? Men  stand  in  line  before  an  "Employ- 
ment Office."  They  are  interviewed  by  a  man 
behind  a  counter,  or  through  a  glass  door  with 
a  small  round  hole ;  they  are  asked  a  few  ques- 

lo8 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  SELF-ASSERTION 

tions  which  they  must  answer  with  all  the  other 
applicants  standing  about.  The  method  has 
under  these  conditions  three  outstanding  char- 
acteristics: it  is  perfunctory;  it  is  cursory; 
it  is  humanly  undignified.  There  is  no  proper 
respect  of  persons,  of  personal  reserves  or  sen- 
sibilities. 

Contrast  with  this,  the  treatment  of  appli- 
cants described  in  the  following^:  — 

There  Is  a  factory  at  Glasgow  which  may 
serve  as  an  example.  When  a  workman  applies 
at  the  door,  he  is  shown  into  a  waiting-room 
furnished  like  the  waiting-room  of  an  ordinary 
office,  and  there  the  foreman  comes  to  see  him. 
He  is  interviewed  alone,  addressed  as  "Mr."  and 
treated  as  a  self-respecting  member  of  Society. 
The  way  to  encourage  self-respect  in  a  man  is 
to  show  him  respect. 

No  less  significant  in  this  same  direction  is 
the  rule  of  a  large  department  store  that  "  all 
persons  applying  for  employment  in  this 
house  who  are  turned  away  must  be  treated 
so  that  they  will  go  away  wishing  to  be  em- 
ployed here  as  much  or  more  than  when  they 
applied." 

*  Sidney  Webb,  see  The  Works  Manager  Today^ 
p.  109,  note. 

109 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

Recognition  by  factory  managers  of  the 
business  value  of  understanding  human  nature 
could  not  be  better  illustrated  than  in  this  con- 
nection. This  instinct  of  self-assertion,  even 
at  its  weakest,  will  lead  to  a  demand  by  work- 
ers for  more  and  more  considerate  treatment. 
A  technique  of  "personnel  management"  and 
"personnel  service  work"  is  developing  to 
meet  this  need.  But  no  degree  of  expertness 
in  manipulating  people  with  due  regard  for 
their  self-respect  will  avail  if  it  does  not  reckon 
with  the  depth  of  the  roots  from  which  this 
respect  of  self  springs.  Superficial  good  man- 
ners can  never  be  a  substitute  for  an  attitude 
of  genuine  humanity  and  equality.  Each  per- 
son's instinct  of  self-assertion  certainly  re- 
quires that  good  manners  characterize  other 
people's  dealings  with  him;  but  the  instinct 
will  never  be  satisfied  until  it  secures  for  the 
self,  consideration  on  terms  of  equality  and 
amiability. 

The  President's  Mediation  Commission  was 
speaking  to  this  point  when  it  said :  — 

There  is  a  commendable  spirit  throughout 
the  country  to  correct  specific  evils.  The  leaders 

IIO 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  SELF-ASSERTION 

in  industry  must  go  further;  they  must  help  to 
correct  the  state  of  mind  on  the  part  of  labor; 
they  must  aim  for  the  release  of  normal  feelings 
by  enabling  labor  to  take  its  place  as  a  cooperator 
in  industrial  enterprise.   (Italics  mine.) 

And  finally  a  successful  and  highly  practi- 
cal manufacturer  ^  has  this  to  say:  — 

We  make  it  a  policy  to  record  the  operations 
of  the  individual  workmen  in  such  a  way  that 
they  have  some  means  for  recording  their  prog- 
ress and  are  thereby  able  to  realize  just  what 
their  efforts  are  producing.  This  brings  out 
what  we  call  the  creative  faculty  of  the  man  to 
the  fullest  extent;  he  is  able  to  really  enjoy  his 
work  by  being  given  opportunity  for  self-ex- 
pression. In  all  of  our  operations  we  work  to 
produce  this  result,  realizing  that  we  are  pri- 
marily developing  human  beings  and  that  plant 
efficiency  is  not  an  end  in  itself;  but  that  the  real 
aim  is  the  development  of  men.  I  could  tell  you 
some  very  interesting  things  that  have  happened 
to  men  in  our  employ  who  have  changed  their 
habits  of  living,  decidedly  for  the  better,  simply 
because  they  were  being  given  opportunity  to 
find  joy  in  their  work,  and  have  changed  from 
men  doing  negative,   destructive  work  to  men 

*  Robert  B.  Wolf  in  Proceedings  of  the  Employ- 
ment Managers'  Conference,  Philadelphia,  Pennsyl- 
vania, April,  1917.  Bulletin  227,  U.S.  Bureau  of 
Labor  Statistics. 

Ill 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

doing  positive,  constructive  work.  It  is  a  fact 
that  Is  beginning  to  be  recognized  to-day  by 
men  who  are  thinking  deeply  along  these  lines 
that  a  man  is  internally  purified  by  doing  work 
which  is  fundamentally  creative  in  nature.  The 
desire  for  self-expression  is  one  of  the  most  fun- 
damental instincts  in  human  nature,  and  unless 
it  is  satisfied  it  is  bound  to  manifest  itself  In  all 
sorts  of  abnormal  ways  which  to-day  are  working 
such  havoc  in  society. 


CHAPTER  VII 

THE  INSTINCT  OF  SUBMISSIVENESS  OR  SELF- 
ABASEMENT 

Individuals  in  whom  the  tendency  to  sub- 
mit is  strong  are  more  numerous  than  those 
in  whom  the  tendency  of  self-assertion  as- 
sumes influential  proportions.  Especially  in 
mdustry  do  we  see  incontrovertible  evidence 
that  people  desire  to  be  led  and  to  have  aims 
and  ends  imposed  upon  them  or  at  least  de- 
fined for  them.  In  fact,  many  people  seem  to 
derive  a  downright  pleasure  from  being  bossed. 
To  be  sure,  this  pleasure  is  not  always  a  simple 
emotion.  It  may  come  from  a  sense  of  oneness 
with  one's  fellows  who  are  also  being  bossed, 
or  from  conviction  that  the  leader  is  right  or 
infallible,  or  from  intellectual  inerria.  But 
to  rest  back  upon  the  dictates  of  another  is 
to  most  people  one  of  the  deeply  satisfying 
experiences  of  life.  "Eternal  independence 
and  its  necessary  strife  are  too  wearing  on  the 
common  man  and  he  longs  for  peace  and  pro- 
tection in  the   shadow  of  a  trust-inspiring 

113 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

leader.  To  submit  under  right  conditions  is 
not  only  psychically  pleasant,  but  much  of 
the  time  to  be  leaderiess  is  definitely  distress- 
ing." ^  For  this  reason  we  are  embarrassed 
by  a  wealtli  of  examples  which  illustrate  the 
activity  of  an  instinct  to  submit. 

For  convenience'  sake  it  will  be  well  to  dis- 
tinguish between  submissiveness  born  of  fear 
and  that  bom  of  admiration.  How  valid  the 
distinction  is  psychologically  it  is  impossible 
to  say  since  fear  and  admiration  are  complex 
emotional  states  that  probably  partake  of 
common  elements.  There  is  nevertheless  a 
phase  of  submissiveness  that  is  socially  desir- 
able and  necessary;  and  there  is  a  type  of 
abasement  that  is  apparently  debasing.  The 
instinct  working  out  in  one  direction  serves 
beneficent  ends,  working  out  in  another  it 
appears  to  block  progress  and  impede  wise 
developments. 

As  hero  worship,  submissiveness  may  or 
may  not  be  salutary  —  depending  wholly  on 

^  Carleton  H.  Parker,  on  "Motives  in  Economic 
Life,"  Proceedings,  American  Economic  Association, 
p.  225;  American  Economic  Review,  Supplement, 
March,  191 8. 

114 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  SUBMISSIVENESS 

the  character  of  the  hero.  A  thoughtful  edi- 
torial in  The  Public'^  in  discussing  this  subject 
in  relation  to  California  labor  politics,  said 
plainly:  — 

The  worship  of  the  strong  man  is  often  di- 
verted to  some  labor  chieftain.  In  San  Francisco 
there  are  labor  leaders  who  belong  to  fashionable 
clubs,  who  are  seen  at  every  prize-fight  and  every 
gala  event  in  the  smartest  of  clothes  and  with 
conspicuous  diamonds.  All  their  followers  ask 
is  that  in  a  narrow  segment  of  the  common  life 
they  "deliver  the  goods"  in  an  occasional  wage 
increase  or  an  occasional  personal  favor,  and,  by 
efficient  management  of  the  union's  affairs,  they 
maintain  it  as  a  bulwark  against  petty  tyranny 
and  a  means  of  fostering  its  members'  independ- 
ence and  self-respect.  But  outside  of  this  field 
they  not  only  expect  their  leaders  to  wax  fat  on 
the  perquisites  of  politicians,  but  they  actually 
glory  in  the  fatness  and  sleekness  and  prestige  of 
their  chief.  It  is  enough  for  them  that  now  and 
then  he  can  get  a  friend  out  of  jail  or  do  some 
other  favors  of  the  sort  that  are  at  the  disposal 
of  a  political  machine.  That  machine  may  have 
twin  roots  in  the  tenderloin  and  in  the  inner  office 
of  a  public-service  corporation,  but  the  rank  and 
file  are  tolerant. 

And  to  point  by  contrast  to  the  attitude  of 
some  other  labor  leaders  the  article  goes  on:  — 
*  December  28,  191 7. 

"5 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

Mr.  W.  S.  Carter,  president  of  the  Brother- 
hood of  Locomotive  Firemen  and  Enginemen, 
spoke  from  the  heart  recently  when  he  said,  in 
addressing  an  audience  of  Brotherhood  men, 
"Congressmen  have  long  since  learned  that  to 
oppose  the  designs  of  the  wealthy  men  of  the 
United  States  is  to  bring  upon  themselves  an 
avalanche  of  political  opposition  that  surpasses 
in  its  intensity  and  eiRciency  even  Prussian  mili- 
tarism. When  members  of  these  Brotherhoods 
can  readily  be  hired  by  the  funds  contributed 
to  a  political  campaign  by  these  same  wealthy 
men  to  defeat  for  election  Congressmen  and 
others  who  fought  for  the  legislation  objection- 
able to  wealth,  let  us  not  be  too  quick  to  con- 
demn Congressmen  for  not  already  having  put 
an  end  to  profiteering  and  not  already  having 
taxed  war  profits  out  of  existence.  When  work- 
ing-people are  politically  honest  and  have  suffi- 
cient political  intelligence  to  distinguish  friends 
from  foes,  much  of  which  they  now  bitterly  com- 
plain will  disappear  as  does  a  morning  mist  be- 
fore a  morning's  sun." 

Here,  then,  out  of  the  mouth  of  one  of 
labor's  own  leaders  we  have  testimony  as  to 
the  submissiveness  of  labor  to  leaders  whose 
reputation  will  not  bear  careful  scrutiny. 

The  writer  was  recently  present  at  a  turbu- 
lent union  gathering  which  had  been  called 
at  a  critical  moment  in  the  contest  with  a 

Ii6 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  SUBMISSIVENESS 

powerful  corporation.  The  local  members 
were  clearly  eager  for  immediate  and  direct 
action,  and  would  hardly  keep  silent  to  hear 
their  local  speakers.  But  when  the  national 
leader  entered  the  atmosphere  changed.  He 
was  a  popular  favorite,  a  successful  organi- 
zer. He  harangued  the  men  earnestly  for  half 
an  hour  in  favor  of  watchful  waiting;  he  ad- 
vanced few  if  any  arguments  save  that  he 
would  ask  them  to  do  nothing  which  was  not 
for  their  own  good;  and  he  won  a  unanimous 
decision  for  his  position.  He  may  have  thought 
and  they  may  have  thought  that  he  persuaded 
them.  He  did  not;  he  won  them  to  him  by  the 
zeal  and  sincerity  of  his  presence  —  by  his 
personality. 

This  same  domination  of  the  strong  person- 
ality was  observable  in  the  local  union  organi- 
zation in  one  of  the  Eastern  garment  trades. 
But  there  the  controlling  clique  became  so 
strong,  it  enforced  submission  so  successfully 
and  so  continually,  that  the  humanly  inevi- 
table happened.  The  "machine"  was  sud- 
denly ousted  by  an  insurgent  group  who  had 
submitted  longer  than  they  could  endure.  And 

117 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

what  the  old  leaders  felt  to  be  the  basest  in- 
gratitude was  in  reality  a  far  more  unreasoned 
reaction  to  a  prolonged  submission. 

Instances  in  which  the  employer  or  manager 
is  an  heroic  figure  in  the  eyes  of  employees  are 
for  obvious  reasons  growing  rare.  But  one 
successful  department  store  in  a  large  Eastern 
city  is  in  charge  of  a  man  who  is  really  admired 
by  his  employees.  To  this  manager,  who  wants 
to  run  his  store  on  genuinely  democratic  lines, 
the  subservience  of  the  workers  is  a  constant 
source  of  irritation.  He  stands  up  in  meetings 
of  the  store  employees  and  berates  them 
roundly  for  their  lack  of  initiative  and  aggres- 
siveness. The  spectacle  of  this  gentleman  be- 
laboring the  workers  about  their  reluctance 
to  assume  leadership  and  responsibility  is  one 
to  make  the  student  of  industrial  democracy 
ponder  and  inquire  more  deeply  into  the  psy- 
chological springs  of  action. 

The  same  acquiescent  submissiveness  was 
illustrated  at  the  writer's  recent  visit  to  a 
Middle  Western  plant  where  a  meeting  of  all 
the  employees  was  about  to  be  held  to  take  a 
referendum  on  some  debated  question.    The 

Ii8 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  SUBMISSIVENESS 

manager  of  the  factory  explained  in  conver- 
sation before  the  meeting  that  there  was  a 
division  of  opinion  as  to  whether  the  shop 
should  close  all  day  Saturday  before  a  legal 
holiday  which  fell  on  the  following  Tuesday, 
or  work  all  day  Saturday  and  not  open  again 
until  Wednesday.  For  some  reason  the  man- 
agement preferred  the  former  arrangement. 
The  owner  winked  at  me  and  remarked  with 
a  smile  that  he  could  guess  beforehand  the 
outcome  of  the  balloting.  He  excused  him- 
self to  preside  at  the  meeting;  and  returned 
with  the  same  bland  smile  to  say  that  the  vote 
was  as  he  had  anticipated:  "  In  fact  there  was 
hardly  any  opposition;  I  made  a  speech  and 

Mr. [the  welfare  secretary]  made  a  speech; 

and  then  we  voted — "  The  extraordinary 
part  of  it  was  that  this  owner  thought  he  was 
running  a  democratic  shop. 

It  is  probable,  however,  that  this  last  illus- 
tration shades  off  into  the  realm  where  sub- 
mission is  attributable  to  fear.  This  is  surely 
the  case  in  those  companies  which  make  it  a 
practice  to  allow  employees  to  appeal  their 
grievances  to  the  president  of  their  corpora- 

119 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

tion.  Often  these  companies  pride  themselves 
on  their  generosity;  but  they  are  relying  more 
or  less  consciously  on  the  submissive  tenden- 
cies of  their  workers  to  safeguard  them  in  their 
show  of  liberal  administration.  For  the  plan 
generally  works  in  some  such  way  as  this: 
When  an  appeal  occurs  the  worker  is  taken 
into  the  president's  office  with  its  expensive 
and  exalted  atmosphere.  There  is  the  sense 
of  being  in  the  presence  of  the  great  and  im- 
portant. The  president  presses  a  button  and  a 
stenographer  attends  upon  him.  The  whole 
situation  is  highly  artificial  and  calculated  to 
induce  an  unreal  attitude  of  humility,  insigni- 
ficance, and  weakness  in  the  mind  of  the  em- 
ployee. The  result  must  almost  inevitably  be 
that  he  hastens  to  acquiesce  in  whatever  deci- 
sion the  president  announces.^ 

^  Mr.  John  Fitch  in  discussing  "Two  Years  of  the 
Rockefeller  Plan"  in  The  Survey^  October  6,  191 7, 
throws  light  on  this  point.  He  says:  "If  the  miner 
with  a  grievance  prefers  he  may  appeal  from  the  de- 
cision of  the  superintendent  to  the  president's  indus- 
trial representative  and  he  may  then  appeal,  if  he 
wishes,  to  *the  division  manager,  assistant  manager 
or  manager,  general  manager,  or  the  president  of  the 
company  in  consecutive  order.'  Or  after  the  superin- 

120 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  SUBMISSIVENESS 

In  contrast  to  this  policy  is  that  of  a  Boston 
department  store  where  no  one  is  discharged 
without  appearing  before  a  committee  com- 
posed only  of  store  employees  who  in  the  last 
analysis  have  the  power  of  discharge  in  their 
hands.  It  was  this  store's  experience  in  a  re- 
cent year  that  under  this  arrangement  a  half 
of  the  discharges  were  sustained  and  a  half 
rescinded.  It  is  not  strange,  therefore,  that 
the  unions  are  generally  so  anxious  to  safe- 
guard the  discharge  policy.  The  individual 
worker  faced  with  removal  must  submit;  even 
if  he  appeals  there  is  the  probable  antagonism 
to  live  down  of  the  superior  against  whom  he 
appeals.  Only  in  league  with  his  fellow-workers 
can  he  present  a  sufficiently  effective  front  to 
assure  that  his  case  is  decided  on  its  merits. 

tendent,  some  higher  official,  and  the  committee  on 
conciliation  and  cooperation  have  in  turn  passed  on 
his  case  he  may  appeal  to  the  Industrial  Commission 
of  the  State.  It  is  n't  easy  to  conceive  of  the  miner 
who  would  go  through  all  that  system  of  appeals.  If 
he  went  through  it  and  won,  how  happy  his  position 
would  be  back  on  the  job  in  the  mine  under  the  whole 
hierarchy  of  officials  over  whose  heads  he  had  appealed 
from  pit  boss  to  general  manager!  So  far  only  one 
case  has  been  appealed  to  the  Industrial  Commis- 
sion." 

121 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

Convincing  and  graphic  testimony  of  the 
way  in  which  pressure  is  exerted  on  workers 
appears  in  a  letter  submitted  by  a  group  of 
workers  in  Portland,  Oregon,  to  the  Ship- 
building Labor  Adjustment  Board  on  October 
16,1917:  — 

For  some  years  previous  to  1907  [it  says]  a 
number  of  trades  employed  in  the  metal  trades 
-industry  enjoyed  union  shop  conditions,  with  the 
result  that  there  existed  a  more  harmonious  feel- 
ing between  the  employer  and  employees. 

Some  ten  years  ago  the  National  Metal  Trades 
Association,  an  organization  of  employers,  was 
formed  and  they  immediately  adopted  and 
started  to  put  in  force  their  so-called  "open 
shop"  policy.  The  result  of  putting  this  policy 
into  effect,  several  of  the  trades  at  different 
periods  went  on  strike  against  the  enforcement 
of  the  open  shop  policy.  The  labor  organizations 
were  defeated  and  the  open  shop  policy  has  pre- 
vailed in  Portland  and  vicinity  for  ten  years  or 
more. 

The  association  of  employers  maintains  an 
office  and  a  paid  official.  Men  applying  for  work 
at  their  respective  trades  were  told  to  make 
application  through  this  office  if  they  desired 
employment.  When  the  man  making  application 
appeared  at  this  office  they  were  forced  to  give 
a  complete  record  of  their  past  life  and  the  in- 
formation secured  In  this  manner  was  filed  away 

122 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  SUBMISSIVENESS 

for  future  reference  when  the  men  applied  for 
work  elsewhere.  One  of  the  many  questions  asked 
was,  "Do  you  belong  to  the  union?"  and  if  the 
man  answered  in  the  affirmative  he  was  either 
refused  employment  or  told  that  there  was  no 
work  at  the  time.  Under  their  system  men 
belonging  to  the  union  were  unable  to  secure  em- 
ployment unless  they  dropped  their  union  affilia- 
tions. In  a  number  of  cases  men  were  forced  to 
bring  their  union  card  to  the  employer  and  the 
employer  proceeded  to  destroy  the  card  and  the 
men  were  allowed  to  go  to  work. 

The  result  of  the  employers  adopting  this 
policy  was  the  moving  to  other  localities  of  a 
number  of  the  men  and  those  that  remained  were 
either  forced  to  drop  their  union  affiliations  or 
endure  long  periods  of  idleness. 

The  Association  policy  was  followed  by  a  very 
noticeable  decrease  in  wages  in  this  vicinity. 

Men  were  prohibited  from  leaving  one  shop 
to  go  to  another  to  secure  better  conditions  of 
employment.  Quite  a  number  of  obnoxious  con- 
ditions were  imposed  upon  the  men,  such  as  bad 
shop  conditions  and  inefficient  fellow-servants 
that  endangered  men's  lives. 

As  a  result  of  the  oppression  of  the  anti- 
union policy  enacted  by  the  employers,  three 
classes  of  men  remained  in  Portland  and  vicin- 
ity, the  others  preferring  to  move  to  localities 
where  they  might  receive  more  consideration  at 
the  hands  of  the  employers  through  the  efforts 
of  organized  labor. 

123 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

THe  three  classes  of  men  who  remained  to 
endure  the  anti-union  policy  were  as  follows:  —  - 

First,  the  men  who  by  reason  of  their  domes- 
tic relations  or  for  the  sake  of  the  little  home 
owned  or  perchance  hoped  to  own  some  day,  and 
the  part  ownership  of  which  represented  all  they 
had  saved,  and  might  be  snatched  away  from 
them  if  they  were  unable  to  continue  payments 
thereof; 

Second,  those  men  whose  very  nature  compels 
them  to  submit  to  every  abuse  to  the  very  limits 
of  human  endurance; 

Third,  that  class  of  men  who  are  shunned  by 
members  of  labor  organizations  for  atrocities 
directed  by  them  against  members  of  labor 
organizations. 

This  letter  deserves  a  second  reading,  so 
clear  is  its  statement  of  the  repressive  tactics 
that  have  kept  the  workers  down,  accentuated 
the  submissive  tendencies,  and  created  a  state 
of  mind  in  which  vital  impulses  are  held  in 
check  and  thwarted  in  their  expression.  It  is 
incidents  like  this  which  led  the  President's 
Mediation  Commission  to  say:  — 

Repressive  dealing  with  manifestations  of 
labor  unrest  is  the  source  of  much  bitterness, 
turns  radical  labor  leaders  into  martyrs  and  thus 
increases  their  following,"  and  worst  of  all,  in 
the   minds   of  workers   tends   to   implicate   the 

124 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  SUBMISSIVENESS 

Government  as  a  partisan  in  an  economic  con- 
flict. The  problem  is  a  delicate  and  difficult  one. 
There  is  no  doubt,  however,  that  the  Bisbee  and 
Jerome  deportations,  the  Everett  incident,  the 
Little  hanging,  and  similar  acts  of  violence 
against  workers  have  had  a  very  harmful  effect 
upon  labor  both  in  the  United  States  and  in 
some  of  the  allied  countries.  Such  incidents  are 
attempts  to  deal  with  symptoms  rather  than 
causes.  The  I.W.W.  has  exercised  its  strongest 
hold  in  those  industries  and  communities  where 
employers  have  most  resisted  the  trade-union 
movement  and  where  some  form  of  protest 
against  unjust  treatment  was  inevitable. 

But  the  most  dramatic  example  of  the  domi- 
nance of  self-abasement  is  the  structure  and 
character  of  our  present  system  of  producing 
goods  —  the  essence  of  which  is  the  control 
of  production  by  capital-holders.  It  creates 
the  master  and  servant,  employer  and  em- 
ployee, boss  and  gang,  vested  interest  and 
landless  proletariat  relationship  —  a  situation 
in  which  submission  is  at  present  essential 
to  the  earning  of  a  livelihood.  With  absolut- 
ism of  control  in  the  ordinarj^  non-union  large- 
scale  shop,  corporations  have  been  able  to 
rely  upon  the  meekness  of  disposition  among 
workers  to  "get  away  with"  the  rules    ini- 

125 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

posed  and  the  disciplinary  methods  used. 
When  we  recall  that  the  management  hires, 
promotes,  fires,  discharges,  demotes,  decides 
hours  and  wages  without  interference  where- 
ever  it  can,  we  must  realize  that  "the  Neme- 
sis of  docility"  is  at  hand.  And  what  makes 
matters  worse  is  that  submission  on  one  side 
fosters  domination  on  the  other  until  a  theory 
has  developed  and  is  openl}'-  supported  by 
many  employers  that  a  benevolent  but  firm 
despotism  is  the  secret  of  successful  factory 
management.  And  as  a  temporary  expedient 
the  theory  is  unfortunately  all  too  true.  The 
rub  comes,  as  has  been  pointed  out,  when  the 
workers  have  been  cared  for  long  enough  to 
store  up  energy  and  be  filled  with  disgust  at 
paternalism. 

The  strength  of  the  instinct  of  self-efface- 
ment seems,  in  other  words,  to  be  in  direct 
proportion  to  the  physical  or  nervous  weakness 
of -the  individual  or  group.  Just  as  in  times  of 
loss  or  depression  or  discouragement  the  indi- 
vidual is  most  forcibly  impelled  to  submissive 
recognition  of  a  higher  power,  so  when  he  has 
not  the  energy  or  intelligence  to  impose  his 

126 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  SUBMISSIVENESS 

will  on  the  environment,  he  is  compelled  to 
accept  the  commands  of  this  world's  leaders. 
The  first  condition  of  revolt  is  not  a  long-con- 
tinued abject  destitution  (which  breeds  in- 
difference); it  is  a  minimum  physical  basis  of 
health  and  vigor  which  permits  the  direction 
of  attention  to  other  affairs  than  the  imme- 
diate hour-to-hour  problem  of  keeping  body 
and  soul  together.  That  this  fact  of  submis- 
sion not  only  in  the  form  of  hero  worship  or 
fear,  but  in  lethargy,  is  recognizably  at  the 
root  of  some  of  the  most  serious  industrial 
problems  is  appreciated  in  the  following  dis- 
cussion of  the  English  cooperative  movement.* 
The  quotation  points  to  the  same  fact  which 
is  being  noted  here  and  shows  clearly  the  dan- 
gers into  which  this  too  great  self-abasement 
brings  industry:  — 

We  cannot  resist  the  inference  that  it  is  in 
this  tendency  of  the  average  man  to  relapse  into 
apathy  and  indifference,  with  regard  to  all  forms 
of  social  organization  not  affording  a  perpetual 
daily  stimulant  to  personal  activity  that  the 
Cooperative  Democracy  (equally  with  other 
democracies)  will  find  its  most  serious  obstacle. 

^  Supplement  to  The  Neto  Statesman,  May  30,  1914. 
127 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

The  apathy  and  indifference  of  the  Cooperative 
membership  fosters  some  of  the  besetting  evils 
of  the  movement.  It  tempts  the  executive  to 
slackness,  and  it  makes  it  possible  for  favorit- 
ism or  corruption  to  creep  in.  At  best,  it  fosters 
the  growth  of  a  bureaucracy,  which  may  or  may 
not  be  efficient,  but  which  seldom  has  a  good 
effect  on  the  members. 

Professor  Parker  has  gone  much  farther 
than  this,  claiming  that  the  repression  which 
accompanies  at  least  the  itinerant  workers' 
economic  subjection  is  noticeably  pathological.^ 

The  western  hobo  [he  says]  tries  in  a  more  or 
less  frenzied  way  to  compensate  for  a  general 
all-embracing  thwarting  of  his  nature  by  a  won- 
derful concentration  of  sublimitation  activities 
on  the  wander  instinct.  The  monotony,  indig- 
nity, dirt,  and  sexual  apologies  of,  for  instance, 
the  unskilled  worker's  life  bring  their  definite 
fixations,  their  definite  irrational,  inferiority 
obsessions. 

The  balked  laborer  here  follows  one  of  the 
two  described  lines  of  conduct:  (i)  he  either 
weakens,  becomes  inefficient,  drifts  away,  or 
(2)  he  indulges  in  a  true  type  inferiority  com- 

*  Carleton  H.  Parker  on  "Motives  in  Economic 
Life."  Proceedings,  American  Economic  Association, 
p.  230;  American  Economic  Review,  Supplement, 
March,  19 18. 

128 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  SUBMISSIVENESS 

pensation,  and  in  order  to  dignify  himself,  to 
eliminate  for  himself  his  inferiority  in  his  own 
eyes,  he  strikes  or  brings  on  a  strike;  he  com- 
mits violence,  or  he  stays  on  the  job  and  injures 
machinery,  or  mutilates  the  materials.  He  is  fit 
food  for  dynamite  conspiracies.  He  is  ready  to 
make  sabotage  a  part  of  his  regular  habit  scheme. 
His  condition  is  one  of  mental  stress  and  un- 
focused psychic  unrest,  and  could  in  all  accuracy 
be  called  a  definite  industrial  psychosis.  He  is 
neither  willful  nor  responsible,  he  is  suffering 
from  a  stereotyped  mental  disease.  .  .  . 

I  suggest  that  this  unrest  is  a  true  revolt  psy- 
chosis, a  definite  mental  unbalance,  an  efficiency 
psychosis,  as  it  were,  and  has  its  definite  psychic 
antecedents. 

If  this  is  true,  if  there  really  does  result  a 
mental  unbalance  because  the  worker  has  been 
so  long  "jobless,  voteless,  and  womanless,** 
students  and  reformers  are  surely  overlook- 
ing the  results  of  the  submissive  type  of  in- 
stinctive behavior,  as  well  as  its  prevalence. 
Professor  Parker,  in  consequence  of  his  analy- 
sis, was  engaged  at  the  time  of  his  death  in 
an  effort  to  make  the  life  of  the  itinerant 
worker  more  endurable  —  to  enfranchise  him, 
to  recover  him  to  community  and  family  con- 
tacts, to  surround  him  with  wholesome  work- 

129 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

ing  conditions.    "The  cure  lies,"  he  said,  "in 
taking  care  of  the  psychic  antecedents." 

When,  therefore,  the  scoffers  at  the  possi- 
bilities of  democracy  in  the  control  of  insti- 
tutions point  to  the  present  acceptance  of 
domination  and  exploitation,  we  must  remind 
them  that  people  are  responding  to  a  situa- 
tion in  a  one-sided  and  therefore  dangerous 
way.  The  instinctive  basis  for  their  conduct 
has  been  abnormally  restricted  and  is  unduly 
simple.  The  instinct  to  submit  has  the  upper 
hand.  But  there  are  other  more  liberating 
instincts  which  when  properly  quickened  re- 
spond with  a  vigor  that  gains  in  potency  with 
training  and  use.  People  are  submissive,  not 
because  submissiveness  is  normally  the  domi- 
nant trait,  but  because  adverse  conditions  of 
heredity  and  environment  have  made  ser- 
vility most  easy  or  most  expedient. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  INSTINCT  OF  THE  HERD 

The  instinct  of  the  herd  is  the  impulsion  to 
be  and  stay  with  those  of  one's  kind.  Presum- 
ably this  tendency  was  originally  simple  and 
direct.  But  as  the  "herd"  has  grown  in  size 
and  as  various  groups  have  sprung  up  within 
it,  this  instinct  has  come  to  manifest  itself  si- 
multaneously in  respect  to  various  groupings. 
What,  then,  is  the  herd  and  what  are  the 
characteristic  responses  which  this  instinct 
elicits  ? 

The  herd  is  to-day  the  group  which  is  able 
to  impress  its  protective  value  upon  the  indi- 
vidual to  the  point  of  his  accepting  its  dic- 
tates. If  this  is  true  it  is  clear  that  the  same 
individual  can  simultaneously  or  successively 
belong  to  different  groups  which  under  chang- 
ing circumstances  impress  him  with  their 
worth  as  protecting  agencies.  Indeed,  in  con- 
temporary human  affairs  we  face  a  situation 
which  is  unique  in  point  of  the  extent  and 

131 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

quality  of  the  protecting  groups.  Neighbor- 
hoods, labor-unions,  employers'  associations, 
churches,  cities,  states,  nations  —  these  are 
some  of  the  most  compelling  and  effective 
groupings  toward  which  we  may  expect  mani- 
festations of  the  instinct  of  the  herd. 

If  we  consider  the  situation  in  England  at 
the  outbreak  of  the  war  we  see  this  diversity 
of  loyalties  asserted  in  unmistakable  fashion.^ 
It  was  with  great  effort  that  the  rank  and  file 
of  British  trade-unionists  were  finally  con- 
vinced that  this  was  a  war  in  which  they  had 
any  vital  interest  as  citizens  of  Great  Britain. 
They  had  been  familiar  so  long  with  a  state  of 
affairs  in  which  the  Government  represented 
an  exploiting  and  opposing  interest,  that  it 
was  well-nigh  impossible  for  them  to  believe 
the  national  group  as  such  was  threatened  to 
an  extent  which  made  it  necessary  for  loyalty 
to  it  to  take  precedence  over  the  allegiance 
demanded  by  the  working-class  movement. 

The  "fall  of  the  international,"  as  the  fail- 
ure of  the  working-class  groups  in  the  warring 

*  For   detailed   examination   of   this    evidence   see 
G.  D.  H.  Cole's  Labor  in  War-Time,  especially  chap,  i, 

132 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  THE  HERD 

countries  to  refuse  to  fight  their  fellow-workers 
has  been  characterized,  is  another  evidence  that 
an  instinctive  loyalty  can  be  and  is  transferred 
from  one  group  to  another  whenever  this 
change  is  believed  to  be  necessary  for  self- 
protection. 

The  conclusion  to  which  the  facts  point  re- 
garding the  way  in  which  this  instinct  finds 
its  objects  of  stimulation  is  this:  The  instinct 
of  the  herd  will  manifest  itself  most  completely 
in  connection  with  the  group  which  at  the 
moment  offers  what  appears  to  be  the  most 
urgently  needed  protection;  and  it  will  shift 
its  attachment  as  the  need  for  protection 
shifts.  In  the  absence  of  any  consciousness  of 
the  necessity  for  protection,  the  individual's 
behavior  will  be  determined  by  that  of  the 
people  with  whom  he  associates. 

This  brings  us  to  the  second  question, 
namely,  as  to  the  characteristics  of  the  be- 
havior which  is  expressive  of  gregariousness. 
Trotter  *  differentiates  several  elements  at 
least  two  of  which  are  being  specifically  treated 

*  W.  Trotter,  Instincts  of  the  Herd  in  Peace  and  War^ 
p.  112  ^/  seq. 

133 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

in  this  discussion  in  connection  with  other 
impulses.  He  ascribes  to  this  instinct:  — 

1.  The  fear  of  solitude. 

2.  Greater  sensitiveness  to  the  voice  of  the 
herd  than  to  other  voices. 

3.  Heightened  suggestibility  to  the  passions 
of  the  herd  both  in  aggressive  violence  and 
in  panics  of  fear. 

4.  Heightened  susceptibility  to  leadership. 

5.  Necessity  for  having  identity  recognizable 
if  relationship  to  the  herd  is  to  be  main- 
tained. 

(i)  At  first  blush  the  fear  of  solitude  would 
not  seem  to  help  in  accounting  for  conduct  in 
industrial  affairs  whose  essence  is  the  coopera- 
tion of  large  groups  of  people.  The  tendency 
does,  however,  offer  a  practical  clue  to  events 
of  both  minor  importance  and  large  signifi- 
cance. 

Employees  whose  work  requires  them  to 
be  alone  in  stock-rooms,  storage-places  or  at 
watchmen's  jobs  have  often  to  be  paid  addi- 
tionally or  to  be  transferred  occasionally  to 
other  jobs,  or  they  will  leave.  It  is  also  true 
that  the  maximum  volume  of  output  is  achieved 
only  in  a  room  where  there  are  other  people, 
although  too  many  others  may  prove  equally 

134 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  THE  HERD 

distracting.  Experiment  is  still  needed  to 
establish  the  degree  of  solitude  which  contrib- 
utes best  to  production,  and  it  is  probable 
that  in  each  type  of  industry  a  different  basis 
of  association  will  be  found  to  be  most  satis- 
factory. 

Another  interesting  example  of  what  may 
be  in  part  the  working-out  of  this  impulse  is 
the  unwillingness  of  girls  to  go  into  domestic 
service  where  they  are  alone  in  a  kitchen  for 
thirteen  hours  a  day.  While  this  is,  of  course, 
a  phenomenon  of  complex  causes,  it  seems 
reasonable  from  the  evidence  at  hand  that 
this  explanation  is  a  real  if  partial  one.  The 
available  figures  about  the  occupations  of  girls 
with  illegitimate  children  show  that  there  are 
more  who  have  been  formerly  in  domestic  serv- 
ice than  in  any  other  one  occupation.  That 
this  is  an  evidence  of  loneliness  and  solitude 
compensated  for  at  the  highest  price,  seems  a 
fair  construction  of  the  facts. 

But  the  more  impressive  illustrations  of  the 
working-out  of  this  trait  are  more  general  in 
character  and  less  susceptible  to  proof  or  con- 
firmation.  It  may,  for  example,  be  plausibly 

135 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

speculated  that  dislike  of  solitude  promoted 
the  rapid  creation  of  the  propertyless  working 
groups  which  have  been  flocking  to  the  cities 
throughout  the  last  two  centuries,  not  only 
in  this  country,  but  throughout  the  civilized 
world.  Love  of  kind  undoubtedly  keeps  many 
people  constantly  shut  up  in  city  tenements 
and  apartments,  although  that  manner  of  life 
costs  them  dearly  in  money  and  health.  Only 
those  who  have  been  connected  with  "back- 
to-the-land,"  "garden-city,"  or  "model-vil- 
lage" movements  know  how  great  is  the  effort 
required  to  get  city  workers  even  to  consider 
moving  into  the  suburbs  to  live.  And  the  rea- 
son advanced  ten  times  for  every  other  excuse 
is  that  "it's  so  lonely  out  there." 

(2)  The  fact  that  we  are  more  sensitive, 
which  generally  means  more  submissive,  to 
the  voice  of  the  group  than  to  any  other  voice 
is  exemplified  so  constantly  and  in  so  many 
ways  as  hardly  to  need  elaborate  illustration. 
Its  practical  importance  is,  of  course,  enor- 
mous. For  it  is  this  sensitiveness  which  helps 
to  secure  that  conformity,  discipline,  and  co- 
herence which  are  essential  to  effective  group 

136 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  THE  HERD 

activity.  But  the  characteristic  is  a  source  of 
weakness  when  it  helps  to  keep  those  members 
who  have  new  ideas  silent  and  oppressed.  It 
works,  for  example,  to  keep  labor  leaders  from 
proposing  reforms  which  they  may  see  to  be 
necessary,  but  for  which  they  dare  not  take  a 
stand  with  their  constituents;  it  helps  to  pre- 
vent workers  from  trying  to  overthrow  leaders 
with  whom  they  disagree,  but  whose  ability 
to  carry  the  crowd  they  at  the  same  time  fear. 
A  good  illustration  of  the  leaders'  sensi- 
tiveness to  the  voice  of  the  group  was  re- 
cently afforded  in  a  textile  center  where  the 
local  trade-union  official  had  been  discharged 
from  the  mill  in  which  he  worked  on  grounds 
that  were  universally  conceded  to  be  justi- 
fied. This  official  had  boasted  of  his  ability  to 
"get  away  with"  little  and  careless  work  be- 
cause of  his  position  as  president  of  the  local 
union.  (In  this,  of  course,  his  unsatisfied  in- 
stinct to  domination  was  getting  thorough,  if 
unwise,  expression.)  After  giving  him  every 
chance  the  management  finally  had  to  let 
him  go,  whereupon  he  proceeded  to  call  a 
strike.  The  employer  at  once  called  in  a  union 

1^7 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

official  whose  jurisdiction  was  State-wide  and 
had  him  investigate  the  situation.  The  State 
official  admitted  that  the  local  agent  was  in 
the  wrong,  but  said  that  he  would  neverthe- 
less have  to  uphold  him.  The  only  valid  ex- 
planation for  such  conduct  seems  to  be  that 
the  State  labor  organization  was  reluctant  to 
do  anything  to  displease  or  weaken  its  local 
branch.  It  was,  in  a  word,  highly  sensitive 
to  the  voice  of  this  group,  while  wholly  dis- 
regarding the  opinion  or  judgment  of  any 
other  group  in  that  community. 

(3)  The  fact  of  the  heightened  suggesti- 
bility that  exists  among  individuals  in  a  group 
has  become  commonplace.  In  every  gather- 
ing of  human  beings  called  together  for  what- 
ever purpose  the  evidences  of  this  suggesti- 
bility will  be  abundantly  found. 

The  previously  cited  ^  incident  of  the  union 
meeting  which  was  addressed  by  the  national 
organizer  who  persuaded  the  men  to  delay 
their  strike  illustrates  very  typically  the  way 
in  which  a  group,  almost  against  its  will,  is 
brought  to  believe  that  its  opinion  has  been 
*  See  ante  p.  117. 
138 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  THE  HERD 

changed  by  argument,  whereas  in  reality  it  has 
been  brought  about  by  the  impact  of  the  sug- 
gestions of  a  platform  full  of  accredited  leaders. 
If,  in  this  instance,  the  leaders  had  had  to  con- 
vert the  members  in  individual  conference,  it 
is  doubtful  whether  they  would  have  had  the 
slightest  measure  of  success.  A  similar  con- 
clusion seems  inevitable  with  regard  to  the 
outcome  of  the  employees*  referendum  men- 
tioned in  our  discussion  of  submissiveness.^ 
Had  it  been  possible  for  the  workers  in  that 
plant  to  have  gone  into  booths  and  voted  by 
the  Australian  system  a  day  after  their  meeting, 
it  is  improbable  that  they  would  have  voted 
so  unanimously  with  the  management. 

(4)  That  the  group  is  more  easily  capti- 
vated by  the  leader  than  is  the  individual,  is 
only  another  evidence  that  groups  respond 
more  instinctively  than  individuals  to  given 
stimuli,  because  they  respond  more  fully,  un- 
critically, and  rapidly.  The  strategic  place 
which  the  leader  can  and  does  assume  has 
already  been  pointed  out  in  discussing  sub- 
missiveness. 

*  See  anu  pp.  118,  119. 
139 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

(5)  The  biological  necessity  of  recognizing 
the  members  of  one's  own  herd,  flock,  or  tribe 
carries  over  to  some  extent  into  the  field  of 
modern  human  affairs.  An  immediately  con- 
crete case  in  point  was  revealed  in  the  labor 
troubles  at  Everett,  Washington,  where,  *'in 
breaking  up  the  crowds  gathered  to  hear  the 
speakers  [of  the  I.W.W.]  the  deputies  tied 
white  handkerchiefs  around  their  necks  *so 
we  would  n't  hammer  our  own  men*  as  one 
of  them  explained  on  the  stand."  ^ 

One  of  the  things  which  makes  the  organizing 
of  labor  in  this  country  such  a  slow,  uphill  fight 
is  reluctance  to  be  identified  with  the  working- 
class  group  and  the  difficulty  of  immediately 
"placing"  people  socially  and  economically. 
One  of  the  obstacles  to  be  overcome  by  union 
officials  in  organizing  certain  of  the  garment 
trades  of  our  large  cities  has  been  the  unwill- 
ingness of  ambitious  workers  to  be  known  as 
"manual  laborers"  because  of  their  hope  of 
one  day  setting  up  as  employers  themselves. 

The  domestic  servant,  the  store  clerk,  the 

^  See  article  on  "The  Verdict  at  Everett,"  in  The 
Survey,  May  19,  191 7. 

140 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  THE  HERD 

college  graduate,  the  stenographer  —  all  step 
forth  from  their  day's  occupation  with  the 
marks  of  class  or  trade  more  or  less  effectu- 
ally obscured,  not  accidentally,  but  inten- 
tionally. This  obliteration  of  special  identify- 
ing marks,  with  the  intention  which  prompts 
it,  is  to  a  large  extent  responsible  for  the  lack 
of  group  activity  where  there  might  well  be 
group-conscious  organizations  to  assure  ade- 
quate protection.  It  is  this  conscious  inten- 
tion which  prompts  to  an  obliteration  of  spe- 
cial identifying  marks  that  raises  the  great 
psychological  barrier  to  working-class  organi- 
zation. This  unquestionably  has  its  advan- 
tages in  a  country  where  the  creation  of  class 
lines  is  supposed  to  be  undemocratic  and  dis- 
ruptive. But  it  has  its  difficulties  in  that  it 
blinds  people  to  the  necessity  of  maintaining 
some  sort  of  definite,  reciprocal  relations  with 
the  economic  group  with  which  they  have 
common  interests.  The  protection  which  should 
properly  come  to  the  unskilled  workers,  to 
store  clerks,  to  office  employees,  by  virtue  of 
an  organization  based  on  common  economic 
interests,  is  to-day  largely  lacking  because  the 

141 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

ambition  and  pride  which  the  American  spirit 
fosters,  renders  us  unwilling  to  be  classed  and 
organized  as  "common  workers."  One  of  the 
complicating  factors  in  the  attempt  to  organize 
women  wage-earners  in  particular  is  just  this 
reluctance  to  be  known  as  a  worker,  which  has 
grown  out  of  the  age-old  tradition  that  it  is 
unladylike  to  go  out  to  work. 

The  same  inability  to  identify  the  group 
with  which  one  has  common  cause  is  to  be 
observed  where  the  common  bonds  of  language 
and  past  association  are  lacking.^   There  are 

^  Interesting  confirmation  of  this  observation  is 
to  be  found  in  the  Report  of  the  President's  Media- 
tion Commission,  where  it  says:  "The  polyglot  char- 
acter of  the  workers  adds  the  difficulty  of  racial  diver- 
sities. In  one  camp  twenty-six  and  in  another  as 
many  as  thirty-two  nationalities  were  represented. 
The  industry  contains  within  it,self  the  Balkan  prob- 
lem on  a  small  scale.  In  other  camps,  even  where 
there  was  not  great  racial  diversity,  large  numbers 
were  non-English  speaking,  particularly  Mexicans. 
The  seeds  of  dissension  among  the  workers  render 
difficult  their  cohesion,  and  the  presence  of  non-Eng- 
lish speaking  labor  tends  even  to  greater  misunder- 
standing between  management  and  men  than  is  normal 
in  American  industry.  ...  The  trade-union  move- 
ment is  the  most  promising  unifying  spirit  among 
the  workers.  The  progress  of  the  movement,  however, 
is  impeded  by  the  traditional  opposition  of  the  com- 

142 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  THE  HERD 

employers  who  have  a  definite  policy  of  hiring 
several  different  nationalities  in  one  depart- 
ment of  a  factory  in  order  that  workers  may 
be  less  able  to  communicate  effectually  and 
therefore  less  able  to  cause  trouble.  It  will,  in- 
deed, take  a  new  sort  of  experience  for  Magyar, 
Greek,  Pole,  Turk,  Armenian,  Russian  Jew, 
and  Sicilian  to  realize  that  as  common  toilers 
in  a  single  factory  they  have  identical  aims 
and  should  stand  together  in  a  group  loyalty 
which  is  of  a  more  urgent  character  than  the 
ancient  animosities  which  they  still  cherish. 
Nevertheless,  there  is  abundant  evidence  that 
the  herd  instinct  is  beginning  to  manifest  it- 
self even  in  this  situation.  No  vestigial  enmi- 
ties can  resist  the  insistent  claims  of  self-pres- 
ervation which  prompt  to  joint  action  with 
one's  bench-mates.  The  demands  for  self- 
protection  are  immediate  and  imperious.  Be- 
fore them,  discriminations  of  race,  color,  sex, 

panics,  by  difficulties  due  to  racial  diversities  and  by- 
internal  dissensions  in  the  miners'  International. 
The  resulting  weakness  of  the  organization  deprived 
the  industry  of  the  discipline  over  workers  exercised 
by  stronger  unions  and  gave  the  less  responsible 
leaders  a  freer  field  for  activity." 

H3 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

and  age  can  be  counted  on  to  dwindle  and 
eventually  disappear.  Employers  cannot  hope 
to  foil  for  very  long  the  operation  of  this  in- 
stinct which  tends  to  seek  its  vital  expression 
in  terms  of  an  immediate,  practical  situation. 

In  addition  to  these  five  characteristics 
of  the  herd  instinct  which  affect  group  con- 
duct, other  instincts  are  also  manifested  in 
herd  behavior — such  as  pugnacity,  self-asser- 
tion, and  self-abasement.  Their  presence  and 
influence  give  rise  to  further  possible  complexi- 
ties, for  we  have  seen  already,  in  treating  these 
instincts  as  they  show  themselves  in  indivi- 
dual conduct,  that  there  are  three  possible 
alternative  results  of  their  existence.  Instincts 
may  find  expression;  they  may  be  repressed  or 
suppressed;  they  may  be  "sublimated"  — 
that  is,  the  energies  they  arouse  may  be  di- 
rected into  channels  other  than  the  usual  ones. 
The  same  alternatives  are  present  in  the  mani- 
festation of  instincts  by  human  groups.  But 
in  group  conduct  the  dangers  of  expression 
and  suppression  are  intensified  and  the  likeli- 
hood of  sublimation  is  decreased.  The  danger 
of  expression  is,  of  course,  the  danger  of  over- 

144 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  THE  HERD 

doing,  of  over-satisfying  an  instinct  in  relation 
to  the  other  instinctive  claims  and  activities  of 
life.  The  workers  of  Youngstown,  Ohio,^  who 
made  a  clean  sweep  of  a  group  of  saloons  in 
which  not  a  mirror  or  bottle  was  left  whole,  had 
just  such  a  satiating  orgy  of  revenge  and  de- 
struction. Similarly,  lumber  jacks  who  come  to 
town  with  their  pockets  full  of  money  and  are 
penniless  after  the  debauches  of  a  few  days,  are 
the  victims  of  an  over-satisfaction  of  certain 
instincts. 

The  dangers  of  suppression  we  have  already 
discussed  in  relation  to  individual  activity. 
But  serious  as  suppression  is  to  the  individual, 
its  dangers  seem  to  increase  in  geometric  pro- 
portion where  whole  groups  are  involved.  One 
starving  man  standing  before  an  open  fruit 
store  may  be  a  potential  thief  of  a  crude,  petty 
sort;  a  thousand  starving  strikers  rushing  into 
the  market-place  can  be  a  goaded  mob  of  be- 
deviled human  animals.  Indeed,  one  of  the 
most  urgently  practical  lessons  which  is  to  be 
learned  from  a  study  of  applied  psychology 
is  that  many  aspects  of  the  labor  problem 
*  See  antf,  p.  79. 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

to-day  present  pathological  characteristics  be- 
.  cause  of  the  suppression  of  one  or  another  com- 
pelling instinct.  And  a  kind  of  diagnosis  and 
treatment  is  required  which  must  be  as  pene- 
trating and  drastic  as  the  original  repression 
was  stupid  and  severe. 

The  energies  of  a  group  are  normally  less 
easy  to  divert  or  sublimate  than  those  of  an 
individual.  The  discovery  of  new  and  satisfy- 
ing channels  of  expression,  which  successful 
sublimation  entails,  demands  time  and  ex- 
periment; and  adjustment  to  the  discovery 
requires  a  still  longer  period.  But  a  group, 
especially  if  it  is  organized  to  enforce  its  de- 
sires, tends  to  act  impulsively,  on  the  spur  of 
the  moment.  A  will-organization  or  an  en- 
thusiasm-creating body  wants  no  obstacles  to 
a  quick  response.  A  thought-organization  on 
the  other  hand  is  by  deliberate  intention  freer 
from  this  danger.  Hence,  if  we  are  to  talk 
intelligently  of  the  possibility  of  sublimating 
group  instincts,  we  must  discover  first  the 
purpose  of  the  group  and  the  conditions  under 
which  it  acts  and  should  act  best  to  achieve 
its  ends.   In  this  direction  lies  a  fruitful  field 

146 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  THE  HERD' 

for  further  inquiry.  Indeed,  the  relation  of  the 
sublimating  process  to  the  whole  educational' 
scheme,  to  the  possibility  of  progress,  to  a 
criterion  of  "civilization,"  has  only  begun  to  be 
realized.  The  question  inevitably  arises:  can 
we  hope  to  secure  among  people  acting  in  large 
groups  that  balance  in  their  reaction  to  all 
the  extraordinary  stimuli  of  the  modern  world 
which  will  conserve  their  own  vitality  and 
assure  the  group's  perpetuation?  The  ques- 
tion can  be  crudely  but  vividly  put  in  another 
form:  can  we  educate  for  freedom  and  indivi- 
dual self-expression;  or  do  the  demands  of 
our  huge  group  enterprises  require  that  we 
educate  for  a  quite  docile  regimentation  of 
human  units  ?  And  can  we  do  the  latter  with 
safety,  looking  at  the  problem  simply  from  the 
point  of  view  of  our  knowledge  of  the  assertive 
and  self-directive  behavior  to  which  the  human 
nervous  organism  seems  committed? 

We  do  know,  I  believe,  that  protective 
groups  will  tend  to  change  the  direction  or 
milieu  of  their  instinctive  responses  less  rap- 
idly than  individuals,  since  their  reactions  are 
likely  to  be  relatively  direct  and  impulsive. 

147 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

Groups  or  associations,  whether  of  trade- 
unionists,  employers,  or  consumers,  are  na- 
tively more  intense,  fickle,  and  primitive  than 
are  their  constituent  members  as  individuals. 
This  is  borne  out  by  all  experience  with  group 
activity  and  the  only  reason  for  stressing  the 
point  is  that  it  makes  the  passion  that  charac- 
terizes strikes  and  class  hatred  more  readily 
understandable.  The  strong  instinctive  rea- 
sons for  fighting  in  groups  which  underpaid, 
exploited,  and  voiceless  strikers  possess,  lead 
inevitably  to  direct,  instinctive  methods  of 
carrying  on  the  fight  and  of  conducting  the 
protective  group. 

In  the  animal  world  Trotter  distinguishes 
between  herds  which  secure  their  protection 
by  aggression  and  those  which  secure  it  by 
defensive  association.  The  wolf  and  the  cow 
are  taken  as  typifying  the  two  methods.  The 
distinction  is  not  one  that  carries  over  into 
human  groupings  in  any  very  hard-and-fast 
way.  Biologically  man's  groups  are  normally 
more  defensive  than  otherwise.  But  given 
the  large  defensive  group,  like  a  nation,  in 
which  protection  from  outside  forces  is  as- 

148 


/ 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  THE  HERD 

sured,  smaller  groups  will  inevitably  appear 
within  to  assert  their  own  special  interests. 
Such  groups  often  reveal  an  aggressively  prop- 
agandist behavior  because  the  only  reason 
for  rallying  a  strongly  protective  group  is  the 
sense  of  a  wrong  to  be  righted  or  an  injustice 
to  be  redressed.  On  the  other  hand,  a  group 
may  arise  in  response  to  a  demand  for  the  per- 
formance of  some  function  less  educational 
than  administrative  in  character. 

Labor-unions  are  aggressive  groups  of  the 
former  origin.  They  came  into  being  in  re- 
sponse to  intolerable  conditions  of  exploita- 
tion to  which  workers  found  themselves  sub- 
jected. Their  function  has  been  essentially 
and  aggressively  protective  —  which  implies  a 
zealous,  uncritical  attachment  to  the  obvi- 
ously immediate  interests  of  the  group.  The 
protective  work  has  been  and  still  is  essential. 
But  in  industries  where  labor  is  better  organ- 
ized there  is  being  demanded  of  unions  a  more 
positive  acceptance  of  responsibility  for  the 
control  of  affairs.  The  community  is  begin- 
ning to  ask  them  to  assume  a  super-protec- 
tive character;  to  become  a  partner  to  the 

149 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

productive  enterprise.  And  the  community, 
especially  the  employers,  have  already  become 
exceedingly  impatient  at  the  unions  for  not 
having  taken  a  more  responsible  interest  in 
production  as  such. 

This  is  poor  psychology  on  the  employers' 
part.  Unions  cannot  be  expected  to  undertake 
the  anxieties  and  responsibilities  of  produc- 
tion until  their  anxiety  about  the  fundamen- 
tal matters  which  brought  them  into  being 
is  allayed.  The  instinct  for  workmanship  can- 
not assert  itself  actively  until  the  instincts 
more  directly  concerned  with  immediate  sur- 
vival are  given  satisfaction.  And  thus  far  the 
members  of  any  but  the  strongest  unions  do 
not  occupy  a  place  of  extraordinary  economic 
security.  Nevertheless,  the  demand  that  work- 
ers in  shop  committees  and  even  on  boards  of 
directors  take  a  part  in  directing  the  produc- 
tive processes  will  grow  greatly  in  the  next 
decade.  The  present  war  has  added  extraor- 
dinarily to  the  sentiment  in  favor  of  working- 
class  representation  in  the  government  of 
industry.  And  this  representation  will  inevi- 
tably carry  with  it  the  necessity  for  taking  a 

ISO 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  THE  HERD 

closer  interest  in  the  mechanism  of  production. 
In  this  new  likelihood  of  a  larger  share  in  con- 
trol, labor  will,  if  it  plays  a  statesman's  role, 
find  a  needed  leverage  for  immediately  secur- 
ing the  guarantees  of  an  adequate  minimum 
subsistence. 

It  is  the  absence  of  these  immediate  guar- 
antees which  constitutes  the  fundamental  rea- 
son why  the  incorporation  of  trade-unions 
and  the  including  of  loss-sharing  features  in 
profit-sharing  schemes  cannot  be  at  present 
accepted  by  the  workers.  They  must  first 
have  some  assured  margin  of  subsistence  upon 
which  they  can  fall  back. 

Concrete  evidence  of  what  I  mean  is  seen 
in  the  proposals  of  the  British  Trade-Union 
Congress  of  1916  for  an  industrial  truce  of 
three  years  at  the  conclusion  of  the  war.  Here 
we  see  the  unions  deliberately  offering  to  throw 
over  the  right  to  strike  which  they  have  al- 
ways held  to  be  their  chief  protective  device. 
But  they  will  renounce  this  right,  they  say, 
only  on  a  basis  of  the  employers'  acceptance 
of  the  following  terms:  a  forty-eight-hour 
week,  a  compulsory  minimum  wage  of  thirty 

151 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

shillings  per  week,  recognition  of  the  unions, 
and  Government  unemployment  insurance.^  In 
other  words,  -assure  them  enough  to  support 
their  families  when  there  is  work;  give  them 
an  adequate  subsidy  when  there  is  no  work; 
assure  a  working  week  of  decent  length  and 
an  organized  procedure  of  discussing  working 
conditions  and  grievances  —  and  they  will 
work  in  the  expectation  of  settling  secondary 
controversies  by  peaceful  means. 

It  would  be  hard  to  find  a  more  apt  illus- 
tration of  my  point.  A  group  instinctively 
protective  in  function  can  expand  its  function 
and  become  a  responsible  partner  in  produc- 
tion only  as  its  original  reason  for  being  is  ful- 
filled. Which  means  that  labor  groups  will 
become  responsible  and  cooperative,  not  with 
exhortation,  but  by  being  assured  decent  mini- 
mum working  standards  on  a  basis  of  which 
other  interests  can  be  attended  to. 

We  can  conceive  of  the  American  Federa- 
tion of  Labor  assuming  a  place  of  responsible 
participation  in  the  control  of  industry  more 
readily  than  the  Industrial  Workers  of  the 
*  Manchester  Guardian^  October  28,  1916. 
152 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  THE  HERD 

World.  And  the  reason  is  that  the  A.F.  of  L. 
is  more  firmly  intrenched  in  the  community. 
It  is  a  strong  organization  ramifying  into  poli- 
tics, with  sick  and  death  benefits  in  some  of 
its  branches,  with  legislative  agents,  with  an 
increasing  number  of  collective  agreements  to 
which  it  is  a  party.  Whereas  the  I.W.W.  has 
thus  far  been  the  friend  of  the  friendless;  it 
has  had  to  fight  hard  on  every  side  for  every 
inch  of  gain;  its  members  are  unlettered;  even 
its  theories  are  the  logical  corollary  of  its 
espousal  of  the  dispossessed.  The  whole  ^  ter- 
minology of  the  I.W.W.  and  the  tone  of  its 
literature  are  those  of  an  uncompromising 
"fighting  organization."  And  it  is  inevitable 
that  it  should  be  so.  For  its  primary  mission 
as  an  aggressively  protective  group  is  as  yet 
unaccomplished.  Indeed,  the  members  of  the 
group  from  which  this  organization  is  drawn 
only  slowly  and  spasmodically  reach  the  point 
where  they  can  identify  their  common  interests, 
and  understand  that  power  comes  with  cohe- 
sive action.    This  alone  can  account  for  the 

»  See  Carleton  H.  Parker,  "The  I.W.W.,"  Atlantic 
Monthly^  November,  191 7. 

153 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

slowness  with  which  it  —  or  any  other  organi- 
zation of  the  unskilled  —  gains  in  numbers  and 
power. 

Our  discussion  of  the  manifestation  of  herd 
instinct  in  industrial  affairs  confirms  the  point 
that  existing  loyalties  and  groupings  are  not 
static  and  given.  They  vary  with  the  kind 
and  extent  of  protection  needed.  Several 
necessary  groupings  and  loyalties  can  and  do 
coexist.  And  for  any  group  to  be  able  success- 
fully to  make  prior  claim  upon  the  loyalty  of 
the  individual  it  must  convince  the  individual 
of  its  supreme  efficacy.  But  it  is  almost  impos- 
sible to-day  for  any  one  group  to  make  good 
its  claim  to  priority.  The  protection  which  all 
of  us  require  is  not  accorded  by  any  supreme 
group;  it  is  distributed  among  several.  Hence 
it  comes  about  that  sovereignty,  to  use  a  re- 
cent writer's  phrase/  has  become  plural.  And 
for  this  fact  of  plural  allegiances  there  are  good 
psychological  reasons  in  addition  to  those  in 
the  world  of  political  theory.  It  becomes  ur- 
gently necessary,  in  consequence,  for  each  in- 

^  See  Harold  J.  Laski,  The  Problem  of  Sovereignty^ 
Yale  University  Press,  191 7. 

154 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  THE  HERD 

dividual  to  sense  the  relative  value,  purpose, 
and  potential  effectiveness  of  the  several  groups 
with  which  he  is  in  contact,  especially  those  in 
connection  with  industry.  This  understanding 
is  to  be  achieved  only  by  study  of  the  past 
experience  of  groups  and  by  deliberately  plan- 
ning and  experimenting  with  them  to  see  how 
the  needed  protection  and  correlation  of  efforts 
is  to  be  achieved. 

In  other  words,  thought  is  required  to  bring 
groups  to  vital  usefulness.  We  look  to  thought 
to  discover  and  to  help  into  articulate  being 
those  various  kinds  of  associations  which  will 
protect  the  individual  in  the  conflicting  cur- 
rents and  maladjustments  of  the  economic 
world.  But  discussion  of  the  uses  of  thought 
must  be  temporarily  postponed.  For  our 
immediate  purpose  we  turn  to  a  discussion  of 
an  instinct  which,  if  we  read  the  newspaper 
headlines,  might  appear  to  have  every  oppor- 
tunity to-day  for  complete  satisfaction  —  the 
instinct  of  pugnacity. 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  INSTINCT  OF  PUGNACITY 

The  instinct  of  pugnacity  is  the  prompting  to 
fight.  The  nature  and  character  of  the  fight 
can  vary  enormously,  although  in  its  begin- 
nings the  instinct  presumably  sought  satis- 
faction in  a  sense  of  mastery  gained  from 
hand-to-hand  physical  conflict  —  a  satisfaction 
gained  from  hopes  of  self-preservation. 

Thorndike^  diff^erentiates  several  forms  of 
pugnacity:  (i)  activity  directed  toward  escape 
from  restraint,  (2)  toward  overcoming  a  mov- 
ing obstacle,  (3)  an  irrational  response  to  pain, 
(4)  a  counter-attack.  Exhibitions  of  pugnacity 
in  industrial  affairs  give  evidence  of  all  of 
these  forms. 

(i)  The  strike  at  Ludlow,  Colorado,  in  1914, 
illustrated  the  first  form  admirably.  The 
town  was  a  company-owned  town;  food  and 
shelter  were  to  be  bought  only  at  company 

^  See  Thorndike,  The  Original  Nature  of  Man,  pp. 
22-25  (condensed  edition). 

156 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  PUGNACITY 

prices ;  the  coal  at  the  mouth  of  the  mine  was 
weighed  by  a  company  representative;  the 
local  courts  were  corrupt,  there  was  no  redress 
for  grievances.  Mr.  Fitch,  in  his  dispassion- 
ate discussion  ^  of  this  prolonged  conflict,  has 
vividly  suggested  the  peculiarities  which  sur- 
round such  a  situation :  — 

Coal  mines  are  not  developed  like  a  factory 
at  a  convenient  place  outside  some  town  or 
"camp."  A  shaft  is  sunk  wherever  the  coal  hap- 
pens to  be.  If  there  is  no  town  at  hand,  and 
there  generally  is  not,  the  operator  must  build 
one  before  he  can  get  men  to  come  and  work  in 
his  mine. 

Having  assembled  a  group  of  people  in  a  place 
remote  from  other  towns,  it  becomes  necessary 
to  provide  them  with  foodstuffs  and  other  essen- 
tials. There  must  be  a  store,  and  usually  there  is 
no  one  with  requisite  capital  to  build  and  main- 
tain one  but  the  operating  company.  There  is 
no  coal-mlning  State  whether  East,  West,  or 
South,  where  this  system  of  private  town  owner- 
ship, despite  occasional  exceptions,  is  not  the 
historic  and  expected  condition. 

This,  of  course,  creates  a  situation  with  re- 

^  See  J.  A.  Fitch,  "Law  and  Order,"  The  Survey, 
December  3,  1914.  This  whole  article  should  be  read 
by  any  one  interested  to  see  how  the  psychological 
point  of  view  can  enhance  our  understanding  of  the 
phenomena  of  industrial  unrest. 

157 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

spect  to  local  government  and  the  relationship 
between  landlord  and  tenant  very  different  from 
that  obtaining  in  villages  that  have  grown  up 
in  the  ordinary  way.  .  .  .  The  coal  miner  must 
go  away  from  home  to  get  off  his  employer's 
property.  He  is  on  it  when  asleep  in  bed.  He  is 
still  on  it  if  he  stands  on  the  street.  He  does  not 
escape  by  going  to  church,  and  in  many  cases  his 
children  are  still  on  company  property  when 
they  are  at  school.  The  employing  company  is 
frequently^  the  only  taxpayer  in  the  camp,  and 
so  exercises  a  greater  influence  in  all  phases  of 
local  government  than  do  the  people  who  make 
their  homes  there.  .  .  . 

It  must  be  evident  that  this  gives  the  em- 
ployer a  degree  of  control  that  he  could  not  pos- 
sibly exercise  if  he  were  conducting  an  enterprise 
in  a  manufacturing  town.  For  example,  the  lease, 
under  which  employes  of  the  Colorado  Fuel  and 
Iron  Company  occupy  houses  belonging  to  the 
company,  contains  a  clause  providing  that  it 
may  be  terminated  by  the  company  on  three 
days'  notice  and  the  occupant  dispossessed.  The 
same  provision  or  a  similar  one  appears  in  the 
leases  of  the  other  companies  also.  A  man  can- 
not offend  his  employer  without  getting  into 
trouble  with  his  landlord  at  the  same  time. 

That  this  is  a  wholly  natural  development  is 

clear.    The  companies  are  not  to  be  blamed  for 

it.  On  the  contrary,  they  would  be  most  severely 

taken  to  task  if  they  should  fail  to  provide  suit- 

\         able   dwellings,   and  where   necessary,   a   store. 

IS8 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  PUGNACITY 

It  is  also  clear,  however,  that  this  system  of 
private  ownership  of  towns  gives  a  power  to  the 
coal  operators  that  they  could  not  dream  of 
possessing  if  they  were  conducting  an  enterprise 
in  an  established  city.  .  .  . 

In  Colorado,  mining  camps  are  referred  to  as 
"closed"  or  "open."  .  .  .  An  open  camp  is  one 
which  has  an  open  highway  leading  to  it.  The 
closed  camp  is  entirely  surrounded  by  private 
property  and  there  is  no  highway  entering  it. 
There  are  roads,  of  course,  leading  to  these 
camps,  but  the  roads  are  on  private  property 
just  as  are  the  streets  in  the  camps  themselves. 
A  traveler  upon  these  roads  is  a  trespasser  and  may 
be  turned  back  by  an  agent  of  the  coal  company 
owning  the  land.  There  is  nothing  to  prevent  a 
traveler's  approaching  an  open  camp,  but  once 
there  he  may  be  prevented  from  walking  upon 
the  streets,  which  are  private  property.  .  .  . 

The  camp  marshal  usually  stations  himself  at 
the  entrance  of  the  camp  and  stops  every  stranger 
who  approaches  and  questions  him  as  to  his 
purpose.  It  is  easy  to  keep  watch  because  the 
camps  are  located  in  caiions,  and  there  is  usu- 
ally but  one  road  by  which  a  traveler  may  ap- 
proach. If  the  traveler  cannot  give  an  account 
of  himself  that  is  satisfactory  to  the  marshal,  he 
will  be  ordered  back. 

A  strike  that  arises  under  these  conditions 
is  not  inaptly  characterized  as  a  response  actu- 
ated by  a  "  desire  to  escape  from  restraint.*'  In 

159 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

the  situation  here  recounted  the  restraint  is 
the  more  galling  for  having  been  so  complete 
over  body  and  mind,  and  so  openly  exercised. 
A  more  absolute  denial  of  the  natural  claims 
of  human  nature  for  all-around  expression, 
could  hardly  be  equaled  in  modern  industry; 
so  that  under  these  circumstances  the  desire 
to  fight  hard  and  furiously  is  not  to  be  mar- 
veled at. 

(2)  Pugnacity  to  overcome  a  moving  ob- 
stacle is  plainly  evidenced  in  the  following:  A 
crowd  composed  largely  of  workers  from  New 
York's  East  Side  was,  just  before  our  entrance 
into  the  war,  emerging  from  Madison  Square 
Garden  after  a  strongly  socialistic  anti-war 
meeting.  A  luxuriously  appointed  limousine 
containing  two  men  who  were  living  images 
of  the  Beef-Trust  cartoons  found  itself  stalled 
in  the  middle  of  the  throng.  As  soon  as  he 
realized  the  situation,  the  owner  of  the  car 
leaned  across  to  the  chauffeur  and  gave  the 
word  to  go  ahead  regardlessly.  Whereupon 
the  car  started  and  began  to  knock  people  to 
right  and  left.  In  an  instant  the  crowd  swarmed 
over  the  machine  so  that  it  came  to  a  stand- 

160 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  PUGNACITY 

still,  and  the  occupants  were  in  danger  of  los- 
ing their  Hves  when  the  police  interfered.  The 
fighting  response  which  that  moving  embodi- 
ment of  blatant  wealth  called  forth  was  as 
deep-rooted  as  it  was  instantaneous. 

(3)  To  see  the  type  of  behavior  occasioned 
by  an  irrational  response  to  pain,  watch  a 
policeman  using  even  the  mildest  force  in  keep- 
ing back  a  crowd  at  a  parade  or  fire.  The  peo- 
ple may  be  as  amiable  and  tractable  as  you 
please,  but  let  a  number  of  them  get  stepped 
upon  or  pushed  about  severely,  or  even  touched 
by  the  policeman  or  his  stick  so  that  actual 
pain  is  inflicted  or  pride  wounded,  and  an 
ugly  temper  will  be  quickly  aroused.  In  a 
strike  where  feelings  are  running  high  the 
very  presence  of  police  or  militia  has  again 
and  again  proved  enough  to  arouse  all  the 
latent  pugnacity  of  crowds  both  in  resentment 
of  possible  pain  and  in  definite  planning  of 
attacks  upon  the  "guardians  of  the  law." 

(4)  The  Ludlow  strike  affords  a  graphic 
illustration  of  the  pugnacity  aroused  in  a 
counter-attack.  Mr.  Fitch's  exposition  of  this 
affair  continues :  — 

161 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

It  was  the  next  day  that  the  cave  was  discov- 
ered that  ought  to  be  known  as  the  "Black  Hole 
of  Ludlow."  In  it  were  the  bodies  of  two  women 
and  eleven  children.  Nothing  so  completely 
illustrates  the  unspeakable  horrors  of  industrial 
warfare  carried  to  the  utmost  extreme.  As  to 
responsibility  for  this  tragedy,  the  evidence  is 
again  hopelessly  conflicting.  I  can  only  record 
my  belief  —  and  I  confess  that  an  apparently 
good  case  can  be  made  against  this  belief  —  that 
despite  the  despicable  and  criminal  acts  of  some 
of  the  militiamen  that  day,  they  were  not  re- 
sponsible for  these  deaths.  The  women  and 
children  had  not  been  shot.  They  had  not  been 
burned  by  the  fire  of  the  tents.  Apparently  all 
were  suffocated  because  there  was  not  enough 
air  in  that  hole  in  the  ground  to  sustain  so  many 
people.  In  my  opinion  they  were  not  murdered 
by  the  militia.  They  were  innocent  victims  of 
one  of  the  most  cruel  and  barbarous  and  un- 
necessary of  industrial  wars. 

After  that,  the  strikers  went  mad.  For  a  week 
they  were  bereft  of  reason.  The  belief  that  the 
Ludlow  tent  colony  had  been  deliberately  at- 
tacked by  the  soldiers  of  the  State,  and  the  fact 
that  women  and  children  were  dead  as  a  result, 
led  them  to  believe  that  a  war  of  extermination 
was  on.  They  determined  that  if  they  must  fight 
they  would  be  the  aggressors.  A  call  to  arms  was 
issued.  Working-men  all  over  the  State  were 
appealed  to,  to  secure  arms  and  begin  to  drill. 

The  chronology  of  the  events  of  the  next  few 

162 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  PUGNACITY 

days  was  given  by  the  operators  in  their  brief 
submitted  to  the  Congressional  Committee,  as 
follows :  — 

April  20.  Battle  between  strikers  and  militia 
at  Ludlow. 

April  22.  Empire  mine  burned;  three  mine 
guards  killed  by  strikers  in  battle; 
strikers  fire  on  Hastings  and  Dala- 
gua.  Skirmish  between  militia  and 
strikers  in  Black  Hills.  Southwestern 
mining  camp  captured  by  strikers. 

April  25.  Truce  was  declared  between  the 
striking  miners  and  the  militia. 

April  25.  While  truce  was  still  in  force,  Chand- 
ler mining  camp  was  captured,  build- 
ings looted,  and  one  man  killed  and 
one  wounded. 

April  28.  Lynn  depot  robbed  of  ammunition. 
Battle  at  Royal  Mine.  Primrose 
and  Ruby  camps  fired  upon  by 
strikers.  Thirty  people  entombed 
in  Empire  mine. 

April  28.  Strikers  attack  and  capture  Forbes 
mine,  kill  9  employes  and  burn  build- 
ings, etc.,  etc.  .  .  . 

In  this  situation  the  fighting  spirit  of  the 
miners  had  been  stirred  to  its  depths  because 
of  their  belief  that  the  militia  had  attacked 
them,  and  because  their  families  had  suffered 
irreparable  injury.   The  facts  of  this  conflict 

163 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

serve  to  illustrate  only  too  clearly  the  strength 
of  the  passion  to  fight  back  in  reprisal  of  pre- 
vious attacks. 

The  question  that  presses  for  answer  to-day, 
therefore,  as  urgently  in  industrial  situations 
as  internationally,  is  this:  Can  the  prompting 
to  fight  be  satisfied  otherwise  than  in  combat 
where  there  is  physical  contact  and  a  deep 
stirring  of  hate  ?  The  emotional  release  which 
accompanies  fighting  is  possibly  one  form  of 
relaxation  and  purging.  Is  it  a  necessary 
form.?  Fighting  taps  unrealized  sources  of 
energy,  and  unifies,  for  the  time  at  least,  action 
and  life.  Can  nothing  else  accomplish  these 
ends  ? 

The  answer  seems  to  be  that  we  do  not 
know  because  we  have  never  really  tried  a 
deliberate  and  systematic  sublimation  of  this 
instinct.  But  there  are  indications  that  we  can, 
if  we  will,  supply  in  other  ways  the  needed 
stimulus,  the  desired  release,  the  ringing  sum- 
mons to  action  and  achievement.  Industry 
properly  organized  can  probably  offer  some 
partial  outlet  to  the  pugnacious  tendencies. 
Presumably  one  of  the  incidental  glories  of 

164 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  PUGNACITY 

the  competitive  system  has  been  the  oppor- 
tunity it  afforded  for  a  "cut-throat'*  engage- 
ment between  individual  employers  no  less 
than  between  capital  and  labor.  It  is  not  only 
conceivable  but  likely  that  the  struggle  for 
sound  social  and  industrial  organization  can 
for  some  decades  to  come  give  substantial 
satisfaction  for  the  fighting  spirit  of  many 
men.  Indeed,  this  is  one  of  the  criteria  by 
which  industrial  reorganization  must  be  judged. 
Does  it  tend  to  provide  outlet  for  the  fighting 
energy  in  useful  or  at  least  innocuous  chan- 
nels ? 

In  the  consumers'  cooperative  movement,  in 
the  trade-union  movements,  in  agricultural 
associations  like  the  Non-Partisan  League, 
in  the  movement  among  managers  to  "human- 
ize" industry,  there  is  ample  scope  for  all  the 
zeal,  abandonment,  consecration,  and  desire 
for  distinction  and  supremacy  in  conflict, 
which  the  cruder  sorts  of  fighting  may  elicit. 
Sacrifices  have  been  made  in  these  directions 
and  reputations  won  without  a  thought  of 
pecuniary  gain.  If  what  we  seek  in  giving 
scope  for  the  fighting  spirit  is  release,  self- 

l6s 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

abandonment,  a  unified  purpose,  and  a  clear 
summons  to  action  in  behalf  of  a  great  end, 
then  the  chances  for  conflict  are  still  numer- 
ous. 

And  even  within  the  factory  reforms  are  to 
be  accepted  only  as  they  promise  to  provide 
an  outlet  for  the  combative  energies.  Those 
proposals  which  tend  to  depersonalize  the 
enterprise,  to  render  it  bureaucratic,  inflex- 
ible and  standardized,  to  center  thought, 
initiative,  and  control  in  a  few  hands  —  these 
are  destined  to  kill  assertiveness  and  eliminate 
that  passionate  struggle  for  accomplishment 
which  gives  life  zest.  What  is  rather  needed  is 
a  forceful  challenge  to  the  abilities  of  every 
man.  In  the  light  of  our  knowledge  of  this 
aspect  of  human  nature  we  can  therefore  afford 
to  be  highly  critical  of  prospective  reforms 
which  do  not  liberate  vital  human  energies 
and  make  it  possible  for  them  to  struggle  into 
fullness. 

Industry  is,  to  be  sure,  only  one  of  the  ac- 
tivities of  life,  occupying  normally  only  two 
thirds  of  our  waking  hours.  And  it  is  not  to 
be  expected  that  it  alone  can  afford  a  chance 

i66 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  PUGNACITY 

for  complete  sublimation  of  the  bellicose  tend- 
encies. It  may  be  claimed  that  recreation 
of  all  sorts  must  offer  this  outlet  or  —  religion, 
or  politics,  or  a  combination  of  activities  in 
pursuit  of  life's  purposes. 

But  apparently  the  human  animal  must 
somewhere  and  somehow  show  its  teeth,  if  it 
be  only  so  much  as  a  slight  sneer.  We  are 
dealing  with  the  instinct  originally  most 
closely  associated  with  the  dire  immediacies 
of  self  and  group  preservation.  It  is  powerful 
with  the  power  of  life  itself.  It  cannot  be  ig- 
nored. And  if  the  labor  of  bread-winning 
occupies  nearly  all  the  waking  hours,  and  if 
human  beings  are  continually  sweating  in 
effort  without  making  any  advance,  like  the 
horses  in  the  stage  representation  of  Ben  Hur's 
chariot  race,  something  must  finally  break. 
And  industry,  as  the  milieu  in  which  these 
cramped  lives  move,  is  likely  to  provide  the 
field  for  the  fray. 

That  there  may,  however,  be  alternative 
channels  for  exhibiting  fighting  spirit  is  further 
suggested  by  the  discussion  which  was  cur- 
rent in  socialist  circles  at  the  outbreak  of  the 

167 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

present  war  as  to  the  motives  behind  it.  Tliere 
were  not  a  few  who  contended  that  the  capi- 
tahsts  of  Europe  were  deUberately  intent  upon 
diverting  attention  and  energy  from  the  in- 
dustrial conflict  to  the  international.  And  this 
point  was  based  on  the  assumption  that  the 
workers  of  the  world  were  gradually  gathering 
their  forces  for  an  effective  struggle  with  the 
so-called  owners  of  industry.  Shallow  as  this 
explanation  may  appear,  it  does  indicate  a 
recognition  that  the  instinct  of  pugnacity  is 
not  static  or  fixed  in  the  manner  or  direction 
of  its  expression. 

The  practical  implications  of  this  discussion 
are  manifold.  But  one  illustration  of  its  rele- 
vance to  actual  affairs  must  suffice.  The  chief 
of  police  and  all  his  officers  in  every  industrial 
center  should  understand  the  psychology  of 
pugnacity.  Picketing  can  with  a  little  thought 
be  kept  legitimate  and  harmless ;  or  it  can  with 
a  little  stupidity  give  a  chance  for  an  unbridled 
display  of  primitive  passion.  Crowds  can  be 
kept  orderly  and  in  good  temper;  or  they  can 
be  excited  to  the  indiscretions  of  mob  violence. 
Strikers  at  the  pitch  of  nervous  excitement 

i68 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  PUGNACITY 

can  be  kept  on  edge  and  fretted  into  a  fury; 
or  they  can  be  left  quietly  alone  and  appar- 
ently disregarded  until  the  heat  of  hate  has 
cooled.^ 

It  seems  obvious  that  if  we  know  the  typical 
conditions  which  make  for  a  show  of  destruc- 
tive pugnacity  we  can  guard  the  community 
and  all  its  constituent  individuals  from  occa- 
sions where  it  might  become  inevitable.    If 

^  A  paragraph  from  an  editorial  on  "Strike  Poli- 
cies" in  the  New  Republic  for  April  15,  1916,  is  sug- 
gestive in  this  connection:  "In  time  we  shall  be  forced 
to  recognize  the  fact  that  industrial  disputes  are  a 
normal,  healthy  element  in  our  economic  system,  at- 
tended, like  all  other  mass  phenomena,  by  occasional 
pathological  lapses,  injurious  to  all  parties  concerned, 
but  easily  made  the  subject  of  partisan  loyalty.  When 
a  strike  is  called,  the  commission  will  of  its  own  voli- 
tion send  investigators  to  confer  with  both  parties 
to  the  quarrel,  to  suggest  means  for  reducing  the 
number  of  points  of  friction,  and  will  supply  such  a 
body  of  strike  police  as  conditions  may  require,  with 
power  to  suppress  provocative  action  on  the  part  of 
the  employers  as  well  as  violence  on  the  part  of  labor. 
Under  this  plan  it  would  be  possible  to  utilize  fully 
the  forces  in  both  hostile  camps  making  for  the  main- 
tenance of  order.  The  strike  police  would  not  be  re- 
garded, as  ordinary  police  or  militia  now  are,  as  hire- 
lings or  partisans  of  the  employer.  If  compelled  to 
make  arrests,  they  should  not  appear,  as  now,  to  be 
making  capital  in  public  sentiment  for  the  employer.'* 

169 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

knowledge  is  to  be  of  any  value,  it  must  be  in 
this  direction  of  protecting  people  from  the 
folly  of  their  own  instinctive  reactions.  Given 
conditions  at  Ludlow  and  the  show  of  violence 
was  a  foregone  conclusion;  and  the  same  is 
true  of  the  other  places  which  have  witnessed 
the  battles  and  riots  of  our  industrial  warfare. 
Pugnacity  may  have  its  amiable  phases  and 
its  positive  values,  but  known  by  its  fruits  this 
instinct  certainly  points  its  finger  in  solemn 
warning  at  our  current  methods  and  practices 
in  the  conduct  of  large-scale  business. 

The  likelihood  is  not  great  that  industry 
will  ever  offer  proper  channels  for  universal 
and  completely  satisfactory  expression  of  our 
fighting  zeal.  We  must  seek  for  some  other 
activity.  The  suggestion  that  in  recreation  the 
individual  can  have  his  fight  leads  to  a  dis- 
cussion any  adequate  treatment  of  which  is 
beyond  the  scope  of  this  essay;  but  a  brief 
consideration  of  the  play  instinct  will  serve  to 
indicate  its  place  and  importance  in  relation 
to  the  industrial  problem. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  PLAY  IMPULSE    ^  ' 

The  play  impuke  urges  to  activity  in  which 
there  is  Httle  attention  to  conscious  ends,  but 
where  the  object  biologically  considered  is 
(i)  to  learn  necessary  activities  by  playing  at 
them,  or  (2)  to  work  off  surplus  energy,  or 
(3)  to  re-create  one*s  self  physically  and  in 
every  other  way.  Although  these  three  em- 
body the  important  theoretical  explanations 
of  play,  only  the  latter  two  are  applicable  to 
the  play  of  adults.  And  perhaps  only  the 
third  is  of  real  significance  in  relation  to  the 
play  of  manual  workers.  For  the  essence  of 
physical  labor  is  its  absorption  of  both  mus- 
cular and  nervous  energy,  so  that  instead  of 
there  being  a  surplus  there  is  a  deficit. 

This  whole  essay  is  in  one  sense  an  explana- 
tion of  why  play  is  instinctive  even  for  adults. 
Life,  we  are  saying,  demands  a  working  ad- 
justment among  the  impulses  in  the  face  of 
their  anarchic  and  imperious  claims  for  fulfiU- 

171 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

ment.  Work  does  not,  probably  cannot,  afford 
a  complete  and  satisfactory  fulfillment  for 
them  all.  Play  can  and  should  enter  to  give 
opportunity  for  more  satisfactory  adjustment, 
to  give  opportunity  for  instincts  and  interests 
otherwise  ignored  to  be  expressed  and  har- 
monized. This  is  the  reason  for  its  peculiar 
importance  in  a  day  when  the  industrial  sys- 
tem offers  to  the  great  majority  undue  lati- 
tude to  the  instinct  to  submit  and  to  follow 
the  lead,  but  provides  negligible  scope  for  all 
the  rest. 

The  sort  of  play  which  is  best  calculated  to 
give  relaxation  is  still  somewhat  an  open  ques- 
tion. There  has  been  too  little  imaginative 
experimenting  in  the  "redemption  of  the  peo- 
ple's leisure."  We  do  know,  however,  that  the 
sort  of  vicarious  sport  which  is  represented 
in  England  by  the  working-class  betting  on 
the  horse-races  and  in  America  by  its  absorp- 
tion in  the  baseball  bulletins  is  a  poor  substi- 
tute for  a  more  individual  expression  of  blithe- 
ness,  irresponsibility,  love  of  nature,  well-being 
in  physical  strength,  and  whatever  other  ele- 
ments may  inhere  in  play.  We  know  also  that 

172 


THE  PLAY  IMPULSE 

constant  nervous  and  physical  exhaustion  lead, 
not  to  any  normal  form  of  relaxation,  but 
eventually  to  excessive  drink,  sexual  over- 
indulgence, and  physical  degeneracy.^ 

As  the  exhaustion  becomes  more  complete 
the  instinctive  demand  becomes  more  insistent 
and  less  discriminating.  Professor  Patten's  ' 
illustration  of  the  working-girl's  delight  in  the 
"dip  the  dip"  and  of  the  profound  satisfaction 
it  brings  to  her  jaded  nerves,  is  daily  confirmed 
on  a  large  scale  at  all  the  commercial  recreation 
parks  adjoining  our  industrial  centers. 

Indeed,  Coney  Island  and  its  lesser  lumi- 
naries adjacent  to  the  other  industrial  cities  of 
our  country  are  fruitful  laboratories  for  the 
psychologist  of  industry.  The  shows  which  are 
the  most  popular  are  those  that  give  the 
sharpest  excitement,  the  most  immediate  nerv- 
ous stimulation.  And  it  is  interesting  to  see 
that  since  industry  has  forced  the  habit  of 

^  See  G.  T.  W.  Patrick,  The  Psychology  of  Relaxa- 
tion. See  also  Ellsworth  Huntington,  Civilization  and 
Climate  (Yale  University  Press)  for  the  way  in  which 
the  physiological  demands  of  unsuitable  climates 
lead  to  the  same  results. 

'  See  Simon  N.  Patten,  The  New  Basis  of  Civili' 
zation. 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

association  on  a  larger  and  larger  scale,  people 
are  unable  to  get  satisfaction  for  the  play  im- 
pulse except  in  a  crowd.  The  nervous  organ- 
ism comes  to  be  pitched  to  such  a  high  key 
that  none  of  its  tendencies  manifest  themselves 
without  the  stimulus  of  a  large  group  present 
and  indulging  in  the  same  satisfactions.  It  is 
a  grave  question,  in  this  situation,  how  much 
further  strain  we  can  impose  on  our  physical 
equipment  without  a  break.  If  the  necessary 
reaction  from  modem  industry  is  the  greater 
elaboration  of  our  amusement  park  technique 
of  thrills  and  horrors,  modern  industry  must 
plead  guilty  to  a  charge  of  fundamental  im- 
portance. The  play  of  the  husking  bee, 
charades,  dancing  at  home  among  friends, 
outdoor  picnics,  and  the  other  homely  enjoy- 
ments is  not  to  be  sighed  for  simply  because  it 
attached  to  a  simple  manner  of  life.  Its  loss 
is  to  be  lamented  because  apparently  it  was 
the  more  normal  psychological  form  of  play  in 
a  generation  when  all  the  claims  of  life  on  the 
nervous  system  were  less  wearing  and  exacting 
than  is  the  case  to-day. 
Application  of  our  knowledge  about  the  value 

174 


THE  PLAY  IMPULSE 

of  play  has  already  led  to  a  certain  amount  of 
recreative  activity  in  connection  with  indus- 
trial establishments.  Factories  have  baseball 
teams,  dramatic  and  glee  clubs,  annual  dances 
and  outings,  and  garden  contests  —  all  with  a 
view  to  securing  enough  change  and  variety  in 
the  routine  of  life  to  make  it  more  enjoyable 
and  to  make  the  individual  more  willing  and 
able  to  work.  Apart  from  stated  recreational 
events  of  definite  business  value  as  advertising 
or  as  conducing  to  better  esprit  de  corps,  of 
which  an  annual  company  outing  is  an  exam- 
ple, it  is,  however,  to  be  doubted  from  the 
point  of  view  of  human  nature  whether  play 
should  normally  attach  itself  to  industry  rather 
than  to  the  civic  or  neighborhood  side  of  life. 
There  seem  to  be  sound  psychological  reasons 
for  believing  that  the  relaxing,  irresponsible, 
and  care-free  atmosphere  in  which  play  thrives 
centers  naturally  about  the  older,  more  natural, 
more  instinctive  human  groups  —  to  wit,  the 
family  and  the  neighborhood  —  rather  than 
about  such  a  completely  artificial  thing  as  the 
modern  factory  in  a  large  city.  Where  the  fac- 
tory exists  as  the  one  gathering-place  of  a  mill 

17S 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

town  the  situation  is  manifestly  different  and 
recreation  can  function  differently.  But  in  the 
typical  industrial  city  the  social  and  recreative 
life  normally  falls  into  channels  of  home  or 
lodge  or  church  or  neighborhood,  and  little  or 
nothing  is  to  be  gained  by  forcing  the  creation  "' 
of  an  industrial  recreative  unit. 

Recognition  of  the  importance  of  the  play 
instinct  and  of  the  possibility  of  using  it  con- 
structively to  make  amends  for  the  inroads  that 
industry  makes  upon  personality  is  destined  to 
lead  to  a  i^ew  and  more  wisely  conceived  pro- 
gramme both  in  factory  and  community.  This 
recognition  is  turning  a  spot-light  upon  the 
long  hours,  machine-like  routine  and  absence 
of  annual  vacations  in  many  factory  organi- 
zations. It  is  not  unlikely  that  the  near  future 
will  see  a  widespread  shortening  of  working 
hours,  a  general  introduction  of  fifteen-minute 
rest  and  recreation  periods  in  the  middle  of 
the  morning  and  afternoon,  and  the  granting 
of  a  two  weeks'  vacation  with  pay  to  all  em- 
ployees. 

Not  a  little  of  the  impetus  of  the  national 
prohibition  campaign  has  come  from  employ- 

176 


THE  PLAY  IMPULSE 

ers  and  some  few  courageous  labor  leaders  who ' 
are  persuaded  that  alcohol  falls  far  short  of  j 
providing  workers  with  the  ideal  form  of  re-, 
laxation  and  rehabilitation.    Employers  and 
workers  are  both  beginning  to  realize  that  for 
sheer  survival  there  must  be  fuller  and  more 
normal  satisfaction  of  this  desire  to  play  which 
has  its  roots  in  an  instinctive  yearning  for  vig- 
orous, well-rounded,  abounding  life. 

We  have  throughout  our  discussion  used 
expressions  to  indicate  that  human  beings  are 
not  completely  driven  by  their  impulses,  but 
do  show  a  critical  discrimination;  do  appear 
to  select  in  some  small  part  the  channels  into 
which  they  shall  direct  their  energies ;  do  util- 
ize accumulation  of  experience  to  save  them- 
selves from  repeating  mistakes  either  in  giving 
way  to  impulses  or  in  not  giving  them  ade- 
quate expression. 

In  other  words,  we  have  been  assuming  that 
behavior  is  not  naively  instinctive,  but  that 
an  element  of  thought  enters  in  —  an  impulse 
to  reflect — -which  may  in  its  turn  be  a  part 
of  our  instinctive  equipment.    We  have  as- 

177 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

sumed,  because  the  facts  seem  to  call  for  such 
an  assumption,  that  instinctive  conduct  is  far 
from  being  synonymous  with  fatuous,  heedless, 
unintelligent  conduct.  Let  us,  then,  see  what 
this  other  instinct  is  which  can  remove  the 
tinge  of  fatuity  and  the  curse  of  stupidity 
from  behavior.  To  know  what  the  character- 
istics of  such  a  tendency  are,  and  how  it  func- 
tions, will  be  vital  to  a  clear  grasp  of  human 
nature  in  its  relation  to  industrial  reorganiza- 
tion. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  INSTINCT  OF  CURIOSITY,  TRIAL  AND 
ERROR,  OR  THOUGHT 

It  is  beyond  the  scope  of  this  book  to  discuss 
whether  there  is  an  instinct  to  intellectualize. 
I  assume  that  the  constant  alertness  of  human 
beings  to  carry  new  experiences  back  to  their 
collection  of  past  experiences  and  to  compare 
one  with  the  other  is  so  characteristic  as  to 
be,  for  our  purpose,  instinctive.  And  I  am 
further  assuming  that  the  curiosity  which 
prompts  to  this  comparison  of  past  with  pres- 
ent, also  prompts  to  a  trial  of  successive 
methods  of  action,  and  to  a  conscious  process 
of  trying  to  associate  causes  and  effects  which 
is  an  instinctive  rationalizing  or  thought  proc- 
ess. 

That  this  assumption  of  an  instinctive  will 
to  think  has  profound  effects  upon  our  ideas 
of  human  society  is  being  realized  on  every 
hand.^    And  it  has  especial  significance  in  a 

^  See  how  the  implications  of  this  assumption 
vitalize  such  widely  different  books  as  Graham  Wal- 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

discussion  of  the  instincts  in  industry  if  we 
are  not  to  be  led  to  the  superficial  conclusion 
that  human  behavior  is  irremediably  arbi- 
trary, capricious,  and  irrational. 

I  am  not,  on  the  other  hand,  saying  that 
man  is  a  rational  animal.  It  is  rather  that  he 
is  a  rationalizing  animal.  His  other  instincts 
must  be  stirred  to  their  very  depths  for  him 
to  act  without  some  element  of  reflection  fig- 
uring in  his  conduct.  The  occasions  when 
one  or  even  a  complex  of  cruder  instincts  take 
the  reins  are  comparatively  rare.  A  crowd  in 
an  angry  passion,  a  thoroughly  frightened 
person,  an  individual  in  the  heat  of  sexual 
desire,  may  act  "instinctively" — as  we  say. 
But  for  most  conduct  there  is  instinctively  a 
weighing  of  probabilities  and  conflicting  claims 
which  sets  at  nought  the  attempt  to  pigeon- 
hole action  or  analyze  it  with  undue  refine- 
ments.   In  qualification  of  this  statement  I 

las,  The  Great  Society;  Walter  Lippmann,  Drift  and 
Mastery;  Bertrand  Russell,  Why  Men  Fight;  A.  E. 
(George  Russell),  The  National  Being;  H.  G.  Wells, 
The  Research  Magnificent;  Anonymous,  The  Great 
Analysis;  A.  E.  Zimmern,  The  Greek  Commonwealth; 
John  Dewey,  Creative  Intelligence,  chap.  i. 

i8o 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  CURIOSITY 

must  add,  however,  that  the  extent  to  which 
rationalization  is  indulged  in,  depends  upon 
factors  such  as  the  amount  of  the  individual's 
surplus  energy,  the  hslbits  of  the  community 
in  education,  and  its  general  level  of  intelli- 
gence. 

Indeed,  the  first  and  most  interesting  ques- 
tion which  presents  itself  in  connection  with 
this  instinct  is  as  to  the  circumstances  which 
give  rise  to  its  activity.  What  are  the  occa- 
sions for  and  the  objects  of  curiosity  or  thought  ? 
How  can  thought,  if  it  does  have  important 
survival  value,  be  fostered  and  encouraged? 
This  question  is  so  important  that  I  intend 
to  discuss  this  instinct  from  quite  a  different 
angle  than  the  rest.  From  the  behavioristic 
point  of  view  it  is  difficult  to  know  or  state 
the  degree  of  thought  which  enters  into  a  given 
act,  since  the  whole  method  of  the  behavioris- 
tic psychology  is  to  study  any  given  act  — 
the  behavior  —  objectively,  without  inquiry 
into  the  conscious  processes  of  the  actor.  Nor 
would  the  use  of  introspection  or  any  so-called 
"psycho-analysis"  help  us  greatly  to  find  out 
how  much  deliberate  thought  has  contributed 

i8i 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

to  the  modification  of  conduct.  Hence  dis- 
cussion of  typical  activities  is  not  of  prime 
value  in  this  connection.  Confronted,  as  we 
are,  by  an  impulse  which  appears  to  have 
made  such  a  relatively  poor  showing  in  hu- 
manity's career,  maximum  value  will  be  de- 
rived from  this  study  if  we  examine  the  reasons 
for  its  prolonged  suppression,  —  or  at  least 
inactivity,  —  and  consider  the  efforts  which 
are  necessary  for  its  liberation.  To  do  this 
we  must  first  find  out  under  what  conditions 
thought  is  provoked  or  required. 

The  few  suggestions  which  follow,  as  to  what 
are  the  most  successful  stimuli  to  rationaliza- 
tion, are  made  tentatively,  however,  because 
it  is  obvious  that  nearly  all  experience  de- 
mands and  succeeds  in  securing  some  measure 
of  reflection  upon  it.  The  simple  answer  to 
the  question  as  to  what  will  provoke  thought 
would  be  to  say  that  any  activity  and  any  per- 
ceived object  may  be  the  occasion  of  thought 
(as  distinct  from  perception).  But  in  relation 
to  the  present  inquiry  I  am  particularly  in- 
terested to  discover  how,  if  at  all,  the  func- 
tioning of  this  instinct  can  modify  the  opera- 

182 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  CURIOSITY 

tion  of  all  the  rest  as  they  manifest  themselves 
in  industrial  behavior.  I  shall,  therefore,  spe- 
cify what  actions  and  objects  appear  to  me  as 
most  provocative  of  curiosity  and  thought; 
and  then  proceed  to  discuss  the  practical  pro- 
cedure necessary  to  release  the  thought  im- 
pulse in  industry. 

There  is  curiosity  as  to  why  things  happen. 

There  is  curiosity  as  to  how  things  happen 
and  how  they  can  be  made  to  happen  differ- 
ently. 

There  is  curiosity  as  what  is  a  fair  propor- 
tion of  activity  among  the  various  impulses 
of  human  nature ;  in  other  words,  — 

There  is  curiosity  as  to  how  the  instinctive 
cravings  of  human  beings  can  be  adjusted  to 
the  immediate  circumstances  of  life. 

There  is  curiosity  as  to  how  the  circum- 
stances and  institutions  of  life  can  be  so  ordered 
as  to  harmonize  with  the  claims  and  limitations 
of  human  nature. 

There  is  curiosity  as  to  how  in  all  of  the 
above  pursuits  ends  can  be  achieved  with  the 
minimum  of  effort,  along  lines  of  least  resis- 
tance. 

•  183 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

In  a  word,  this  instinct  has  profound  sur- 
vival value.  We  are  curious  about  the  working 
of  affairs  that  concern  our  existence  and  well- 
being.  We  are  forced  to  be  so  concerned  in 
order  to  modify  our  environment  to  life  and 
to  adapt  life  to  its  environment. 

Why,  then,  is  it  so  difficult  to  think?  Why- 
is  there  so  little  thought  —  in  this  sense  of  a 
curious,  critical,  persistent  study  of  past  ex- 
periences with  a  view  to  making  future  experi- 
ence more  palatable  and  life  more  happy? 

I  raise  these  questions  here  not  so  much  be- 
cause their  answer  forms  a  part  of  this  study 
as  because  they  inevitably  arise.  And  they 
arise  with  some  insistence  if  we  are  trying  to 
discover  how  the  instincts  do  and  should 
function  in  industry. 

I  suggest,  therefore,  that  thought  demands 
attendant  conditions  of  the  following  favor- 
able character. 

There  must  first  be  sufficient  individual 
energy  and  vitality.  Our  thought  product  is 
directly  dependent  upon  a  curious  "nervous 
energy"  which,  while  it  may  not  exactly  flow 
from  a  surplus  of  physical  energy,  is  to  some 

184 


I 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  CURIOSITY 

extent  conditional  upon  it,  as  that  in  turn  is 
dependent  on  the  weather,  climate,  the  di- 
gestion, heredity,  and  the  rest. 

There  must  be  time  and  leisure  if  there  is 
to  be  productive  thought. 

There  must  be  a  habit  of  thought,  and  an 
atmosphere  in  which  the  habit  is  at  least  not 
discouraged.  If  a  suggestion  is  presented, 
this  instinct,  like  the  others,  tends  to  act  upon 
it.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  situation  is  such 
that  the  habit  of  submission,  acceptance,  and 
conformity  to  the  "cake  of  custom"  is  ascen- 
dant, thought  is  difficult,  and,  from  the  point 
of  view  of  immediate  results,  not  very  useful. 

There  must  be  the  stimulus  of  a  recognized 
problem  or  dilemma  or  hardship.  Conscious- 
ness of  the  need  of  adjustment  to  surrounding 
conditions  and  events  is  the  raison  d'etre  of 
thought. 

The  possession  of  commanding  aims,  ends, 
and  purposes  can  be  a  powerful  stimulus  to 
thinking. 

Finally,  and  second  to  none  as  an  important 
condition,  there  must  be  a  method  of  thinking. 
We  are  not  natively  sound  reasoners.    The 

i8s 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

scientific  method  comes  hard,  and  post  hoc 
ergo  propter  hoc  argumentation  dies  slowly. 
The  trial-and-error  method  of  gaining  knowl- 
/cdge  is,  to  be  sure,  a  naive  one,  but  it  is  a 
I  painfully  slow  method  of  procedure  in  com- 
parison with  that  device  of  experimentation 
I  where  the  several  variable  factors  are  under 
'control  and  where  hypotheses  can  be  formu- 
lated and  tested  at  will. 

This  rehearsal  of  familiar  truths  about  the 
successful  functioning  of  the  thought  process 
is  of  value  because  it  brings  to  light  the  rea- 
sons why  thinking  is  so  rare  not  only  among 
manual  workers,  but  among  us  all.  Nearly 
all  the  illustrations  I  have  used  thus  far  can 
be  used  to  show  how  infrequently  all  the  fav- 
orable attendant  conditions  of  sound  thought 
are  to  be  met.  Indeed  the  situation  is  so 
serious  that  further  illustration  of  the  absence 
of  right  attendant  conditions  for  thought  is 
needed  to  establish  the  point  with  perfect 
clearness. 

A  surplus  of  nervous  and  physical  energy 
has  never  been  the  common  heritage  of  lab- 
orers. Those  from  among  the  manual  workers 

i86 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  CURIOSITY 

who  have  shown  unusual  energy  have  been 
spotted  all  too  rapidly  and  converted  into  fore- 
men; and  as  such  their  interests  and  loyalty 
have  gradually  gone  over  to  the  employers. 
And  since  the  direction  which  energy  takes 
as  it  is  being  expended  has  a  great  deal  to  do 
with  determining  the  things  about  which  we 
shall  think,  it  is  easy  to  see  why  the  attitude 
of  foremen  is  one  of  indifference  to  working- 
class  problems.  Indeed,  the  typical-up-from- 
the-ranks  foreman  is  likely  to  be  particularly 
inflexible  toward  his  men. 

There  is  a  sound  psychological  reason  for 
this.  The  foreman  has  expended  an  extraor- 
dinary amount  of  energy  in  impressing  his 
employer  with  his  worth  and  fitness  to  be  fore- 
man. He  has  come  early  and  stayed  late, 
taken  work  home  or  thought  out  problems  at 
home,  has  striven  to  embrace  those  qualities 
of  submission,  loyalty,  and  industry  which  the 
employer  desires.  In  many  cases  he  has  be- 
come thoroughly  fatigued  in  the  pursuit  of 
his  position  of  foremanship  and  the  fatigue 
converts  itself  into  loathing  and  disgust  for 
the  things  against  which  he  has  had  to  fight. 
,187 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

And  one  of  the  most  insistent  of  these  things 
was  his  own  sense  as  he  worked  along  in  the 
ranks  that  his  interests  were  divided,  and  that 
he  must  bring  harmony  out  of  the  division  — 
a  harmony  in  which  his  interests  were  to  be 
not  one  with  the  workers'  but  one  with  the 
employer's.  He  saw,  for  example,  that  the 
eight-hour  day  obstructed  his  path  to  fore- 
manship;  that  a  uniform  weekly  wage  rate 
offered  him  no  extra  compensation  for  extra 
effort;  that  he  as  worker  had  other  rights  to 
protect,  which  as  prospective  company-man 
he  must  ignore.  In  other  words,  the  very  sur- 
plus energy  which  gives  rise  to  ambition  turns 
the  direction  of  this  exceptional  workman's 
thought  from  workers'  to  employer's  prob- 
lems. This  skimming-off  of  the  cream  of  lead- 
ership which  might  with  advantage  stay  at  the 
top  of  the  labor  movement  explains,  as  much 
as  any  one  thing  can,  the  paucity  of  strong 
leaders  in  the  American  labor  movement.  The 
conditions  and  capacities  which  are  required 
for  the  successful  leadership  of  labor  are  also 
required  —  and  are  paid  for  more  generously 
and    immediately  —  in   the   management   of 

i88 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  CURIOSITY 

factories.  If  we  could  know  the  number  of 
capable  union  agents  who  have  risen  to  fore- 
man's rank  and  never  renewed  their  union 
membership,  we  should  have  at  hand  the  un- 
mistakable explanation  of  the  unfortunately 
mediocre  abilities  which  too  many  union  offi- 
cials display. 

As  for  those  courageous,  energetic  ones  who 
do  remain  to  lead  the  labor  movement,  their 
place  is  achieved  at  such  terrific  cost  of  time 
in  petty  administration  and  intellectual  con- 
formity to  familiar  group  purposes  and  dogmas 
that  it  is  well-nigh  impossible  to  expect  vital, 
affirmative  thought  from  them.  Energy  that 
might  go  to  blaze  a  trail  is  consumed  in  gain- 
ing the  right  to  be  known  as  a  trail-blazer. 

The  present  situation  in  the  American  labor 
movement  is  amenable  to  precisely  this  inter- 
pretation. The  leaders  of  the  American  Fed- 
eration of  Labor  have  fostered  that  movement 
from  its  infancy.  The  organization  in  all  its 
thirty  years  has  had,  with  the  exception  of 
one  year,  but  one  president.  In  consequence 
the  national  organization  officially  sanctions 
many  policies  long  since  discarded  by  many 

189 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

of  the  affiliated  organizations  and  less  promi- 
nent leaders.  There  has  been  for  several  years 
an  increasingly  severe  contest  for  leadership 
between  the  dominant  faction  and  that  headed 
by  avowed  socialists.  Up  to  the  present  the 
old  guard,  although  still  rallying  under  famil- 
iar battle-cries,  has  held  the  field.  In  conse- 
quence, able  and  devoted  as  the  present  lead- 
ership has  been  in  bringing  the  movement  to 
its  present  significant  place,  it  is  to-day  un- 
questionably lacking  in  creative  intellectual 
energy.  And  we  are  witnessing  the  familiar 
spectacle  of  a  large  group  following  the  leader 
in  a  devotion  which  betokens  inertia,  uncriti- 
cal loyalty,  and  an  absence  of  realistic  think- 
ing. 

As  there  must  be  energy,  so  there  must  be 
leisure  for  thought.  And  the  working-class 
poverty  in  leisure  is  a  commonplace. 

It  is  n't  that  people  stand  about  in  their 
leisure  hours  and  "have  ideas"  in  vacuo.  But 
there  is  a  whole  process  of  m.ental  stimulation 
which  comes  from  personal  contacts,  a  reading 
of  the  daily  news  and  weekly  comment,  and 
the  visit  at  church,  lodge,  or  labor  union.  And 

190 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  CURIOSITY 

this  sort  of  pleasant  excitement  and  exchange 
'  does  not  take  place  often  enough  for  the  man 
who  is  at  his  bench  ten  hours  a  day,  and  doz- 
ing beside  the  kitchen  stove  until  he  retires  at 
nine  or  ten  o'clock  at  night.  No  more  vivid 
proof  of  this  difficulty  is  to  be  seen  than  in  our 
public  night  schools.  Many  earnest  foreigners 
gather  there  to  learn  English  and  civics.  Ses- 
sions are  usually  from  seven  until  nine  in  the 
evening.  It  is  the  testimony  of  pupils  and 
teachers  alike  that  learning  is  slow  and  the 
tendency  to  listlessness  and  drowsiness  almost 
insurmountable.  The  writer  has  been  present 
in  night  schools  where  there  were  students 
sound  asleep  with  their  heads  in  their  arms  on 
the  desk.  It  takes  exceptional  energy  to  fight 
off  the  results  of  long  hours  of  work. 

But,  some  one  may  ask,  why  cannot  work- 
ers "think"  while  they  work?  The  organized 
cigar-makers  in  some  cities  hire  a  reader  to 
sit  on  a  raised  stand  among  them  and  read 
aloud  for  a  certain  period  each  day.  These 
men,  however,  have  the  advantage  of  a  hand 
trade  with  no  machines;  they  work  on  light, 
noiseless  material  with  a  uniform  and  com- 

191 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

paratively  simple  operation  to  perform.  These 
conditions  are  exceptional.  The  noise  of  the 
loom,  the  power  sewing-machine,  the  com- 
pressed-air drill,  the  power-transmission  belt- 
ing —  these  familiar  concomitants  of  the  mod- 
ern shop  minimize  the  possibility  of  thought 
and  conversation  even  if  there  were  not  other 
distractions  incident  to  doing  the  job.  Our  an- 
swer to  the  question  is,  therefore,  that  to-day 
the  nature  of  work  is  such  that  on  the  whole 
the  conditions  are  the  exact  opposite  of  those 
which  conduce  to  thought. 

There  arises,  then,  a  second  question  as  to 
why  workers  do  not  make  more  effective  use 
of  the  leisure  which  they  have.  We  hear  much 
querulous  scolding  at  the  working-class  for 
not  having  "intellectual  interests"  —  not  using 
time  effectually.^  But  what  is  an  effective 
use  of  leisure.?  We  have  already  pointed  out 
that  for  sound  biological  reasons  a  less  respon- 

^  Rebecca  West,  in  the  New  Republic  of  October 
13,  191 7,  cites  a  typical  illustration  of  this  attitude: 
"At  a  time  when  most  munitions  makers  were  on 
twelve-hour  shifts  I  heard  a  woman  who  was  going 
to  become  a  welfare  worker  say,  '  I  shall  enjoy  teach- 
ing the  poor  creatures  how  to  use  their  spare  time.'  '* 

192 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  CURIOSITY 

sible,  more  purposeless  activity  is  essential  to 
the  human  organism  submitted  to  the  con- 
stant strain  of  the  one-sided  activity  of  mod- 
ern factory  work.  The  need  of  the  normal  per- 
son who  has  done  his  day's  labor  is  not  for 
different  work,  like  intellectual  effort,  but  for 
play  —  re-creation.  The  only  circumstances 
under  which  we  can  ever  hope  for  sound 
thinking  are  those  which  will  demand  the 
absorption  of  less  energy,  "take  less  out  of* 
men,  and  give  them  a  leisure  which  need  not 
be  wholly  preempted  by  the  necessity  for  re- 
laxation and  rest. 

I  have  said  that  there  must  be  a  habit  and 
atmosphere  conducive  to  thought.  So  rare  is 
this  in  the  life  of  the  average  worker  that  I 
turn  again  to  accessible  literary  illustrations 
to  exemplify  the  point.  Typical  of  the  atmos- 
phere in  which  much  working  life  is  lived  is 
that  depicted  in  "The  Ragged  Trousered 
Philanthropists."^  The  good  fellows  who 
were  unable  to  follow  the  somewhat  pedantic 
discourses  of  the  hero  of  that  tale  had  lived 
their  whole  lives  in  a  muddled  atmosphere 
'  See  anUy  p.  27. 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

of  newspaper  catch  phrases,  tobacco  smoke, 
and  whiskey  fumes  until  consecutive  intellec- 
tual effort  had  become  impossible.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  earnest,  eager  group  of  Rus- 
sian Jewish  radicals  pictured  for  us  in  "Com- 
rade Yetta"  breathed  an  air  in  which  books 
and  ideas  and  intellectual  pursuits  were  the 
common  property  of  all  and  by  which  all  were 
stirred  to  their  bit  of  intellectual  achieve- 
ment. 

But  the  atmosphere  of  intellectual  avidity 
in  which  our  Russian  Jews  thrive  cannot  be 
taken  as  characteristic  of  the  mental  environ- 
ment of  all  American  manual  workers.  We 
have  rather  to  remember  that  the  results  of 
contemporary  grammar-school  instruction  on 
the  human  thinking  apparatus  are  not  en- 
couraging and  that,  despite  this  grave  fact, 
about  ninety  per  cent  of  our  children  get  no 
other  formal  stimulus  to  intellection.  The 
result  is  easily  foreseen.  Conformity  in  all 
lines  of  thought  and  action  is  looked  upon  as 
the  great  virtue. 

It  is  a  mistake  to  think  of  the  rank  and  file 
of  workmen  as  radicals.  They  are  not;  they 

194 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  CURIOSITY 

are  religiously,  politically,  and  economically 
"orthodox"  with  a  tendency  toward  progres- 
sivism.^  We  see  in  their  life  the  insidious  po- 
tency of  the  instinct  to  be  led.  And  when  this 
tendency  dominates,  where  there  is  a  pervasive 
sense  of  restfulness  and  ease  in  accepting  the 
ideas  of  priest,  ward  boss,  employer,  or  trade- 
union  official,  there  is  little  encouragement 
to  originality,  curiosity,  and  thought.  When, 
however,  we  consider  that  a  condition  of 
hardship  or  intolerable  injustice  is  another 
possible  prod  to  thought,  it  would  seem 
that  the  manual  workers  of  to-day  are  amply 
goaded. 

The  difficulty  here  is  that  for  various  reasons 
there  is  not  among  the  workers,  except  sporad- 
ically and  occasionally,  any  compelling  rec- 
ognition of  their  own  hardship,  of  the  prob- 
lems, and  dilemmas  to  which  their  subjection 
bears  witness.  The  suggestions  that  reach  the 
worker  through  the  press,  pulpit,  and  plat- 

^  Intimate  studies  of  working  class  neighborhoods 
in  this  country  confirm  this  view.  See  Lillian  Wald, 
The  House  on  Henry  Street;  R.  A.  Woods,  Americans 
in  Process;  R.  A.  Woods,  The  City  Wilderness;  Mary 
K.  Sirakhovitch,  The  American  City  Workers^  World. 

195 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

form  are  largely  in  the  nature  of  red  herring 
drawn  —  sometimes  deliberately  —  across  the 
troubled  track  of  life.  Repetition  of  the  catch 
phrases  of  politics,  the  artificially  stimulated 
enthusiasm  for  professional  baseball,  the  play- 
ing-up  of  the  sensational  murder  or  divorce  are 
among  the  activities  calculated  not  only  to 
nullify  the  thought  process,  and  to  negate 
suggestions  of  hardship  and  oppressiveness  in 
working-class  living  conditions,  but  also  to 
occupy  leisure  time  fully  with  matters  which 
are  of  only  transient  interest  and  of  no  signi- 
ficance. 

It  is  in  relation  to  precisely  this  fact  that 
the  psychological  meaning  of  the  older  social- 
ists' constant  harping  on  the  importance  of 
"class  consciousness"  is  to  be  understood. 
"Class  consciousness"  is  intended  to  connote 
not  so  much  a  stirring  to  physical  conflict  or 
trial  at  arms  as  a  consciousness  of  exploita- 
tion, expropriation,  and  "wage  slavery"; 
recognition  that  capitalism  means  chronic 
over-production  with  the  search  for  foreign 
markets  and  consequent  wars,  with  recurring 
cycles   of   depression    and    unemployment  — 

196 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  CURIOSITY 

in  all  of  which  the  worker  is  regarded  as  sim- 
ply the  "labor  commodity."  The  workers  are 
urged  to  be  class  conscious  because  that  means 
having  an  acute  sense  of  existing  personal  in- 
justice and  externally  determined  misery,  which 
will  prick  to  thought,  action,  and  solidarity. 

The  reasons  why  this  appeal  has  not  bitten 
more  deeply  into  the  minds  of  the  workers  in 
this  country  become  plainer  in  the  light  of 
this  study.  They  are,  it  would  seem,  the  very 
reasons  that  we  are  advancing  to  show  why 
thought  itself  is  not  more  prevalent.  The 
socialist  propaganda  has  had  the  handicap  of 
being  to  a  considerable  degree  couched  in  an 
academic,  intellectualistic  lingo  which  was  less 
reflective  of  an  accurate  analysis  of  American 
conditions  than  of  an  exegesis  of  Marx  uncrit- 
ically applied  to  them.  For  a  long  time  Amer- 
ican socialists  were  not  at  pains  to  meet  the 
working-class  on  its  own  ground.  They  have 
themselves  been  the  victims  of  their  devotion 
to  a  leader  exactly  as  were  the  workers  they 
were  exhorting  to  "awake"  and  "unite." 

The  Marxians  can  point  the  moral  also  to 
another  tale.   In  the  first  instance  they  were 

197 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

close  and  serious  thinkers  passionately  in 
search  of  that  truth  which  would  set  the  work- 
ers free.  Later  the  evidences  of  dogmatism 
were  unmistakable ;  ^  and  the  difficulty  of  se- 
curing straight  thinking  great.  This  course  of 
events  is  all  too  familiar  in  the  history  of  ideas. 
Dogmatism,  although  not  the  inevitable  re- 
sult of  thinking,  has  constantly  to  be  guarded 
against  as  the  thought  process  flows  on.  There 
is  but  one  antidote  for  this  condition;  —  be 
sure  that  the  process  which  goes  on  is  a  thought 
process  and  not  one  simply  reiterative  of  ideas 
worked  out  when  energy,  patience,  and  a 
spirit  of  inquiry  were  at  the  maximum.  It  is 
only  such  a  persistent  effort  in  thinking  close 
to  the  facts  which  will  lead  workers  to  under- 
stand that  their  present  condition  is  neithei 
foreordained  nor  necessary. 

Another  way  of  stating  this  point,  that 
there  must  be  consciousness  of  maladjustment 
to  arouse  thought,  is  to  say  that  there  must  be 
a  desire  for  a  better  standard  of  living.   This 

^  See  Vladimir  G.  Simkhovitch,  Marxism  versus 
Socialism.  See  also  in  order  that  the  whole  contro- 
versy may  be  available,  I.  M.  Rubinow,  Was  Marx 
Wrong  ? 

198 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  CURIOSITY 

standard  is  largely  a  psychological  concep- 
tion that  derives  from  the  activity  of  the  in- 
stincts of  family,  self-assertion,  possessiveness, 
and  the  desire  to  have  not  only  the  means 
of  existence  assured,  but  also  an  opportunity 
for  leisure,  companionship,  and  thought.  The 
agencies  which  point  the  way  to  a  higher 
standard  —  be  they  advertisements  of  desira* 
ble  comforts,  novels,  moving  pictures,  glimpses 
of  well-bom  and  cultivated  people  —  are  agen- 
cies of  discontent  and  precursors  of  the  stir- 
ring question,  "How  can  I  be  more  like  that?" 
It  is,  in  fact,  to  this  popularization  of  the  rudi- 
ments of  culture  and  refinement  that  we  owe 
the  feeling  of  insecurity  felt  by  the  present 
holders  of  power  in  church,  state,  and  indusr- 
try.  A  little  knowledge  is  a  dangerous  thing, 
not  to  those  who  have  it,  but  to  those  who 
have  more  knowledge  and  have  abused  the 
power  that  it  brings. 

Are  we,  then,  brought  to  this  dilemma,  that 
we  become  discontented  only  when  we  think 
and  that  we  think  only  when  we  become  dis- 
contented? The  answer  must  be  in  the  nega- 
tive.   We  are  discontented  because  we  are 

199 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

human,  because  our  impulses  in  their  con- 
stant impact  on  Hfe  never  come  to  an  equili- 
brium—  that  is,  to  harmonious  adjustment 
with  our  environment.  And  it  is  the  function 
of  thought  to  help  us  secure  that  adjustment 
and  approach  an  equiUbrium  as  a  Hmit. 

The  extent  of  discontent  among  manual 
workers  has  been  affirmed  again  and  again  in 
this  discussion.  Yet  I  have  also  emphasized 
the  underlying  trend  to  orthodoxy  and  sub- 
missiveness  in  working-class  opinion.  The  two 
are  really  obverse  sides  of  the  same  pheno- 
menon. If  I  have  stressed  the  part  played  by 
submissiveness,  it  is  not  to  deny  the  existence 
of  discontent,  but  rather  to  imply  that  a  re- 
pression of  impulses  is  now  taking  place.  For- 
midable suppressed  desires  are  being  created 
which  must  some  day  come  to  an  abortive 
expression  in  the  course  of  which  little  thought 
will  be  possible,  just  as  little  thought  is  pos- 
sible when  one  is  pursued  by  a  river  which  has 
broken  over  its  dikes.  Submission  is  present 
because  submission  has  been  necessary  for 
survival;  but  discontent  is  also  simultaneously 
present  because  some  more  adequate  expres- 

r 

200 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  CURIOSITY 

sion  of  the  other  instincts  is  also  necessary  to 
survival.  The  time  comes  when  people  weigh- 
ing the  evils  which  they  endure  in  one  hand 
and  those  involved  in  an  effort  toward  release 
in  the  other,  decide  in  favor  of  the  latter;  and 
thus,  if  judgment  has  been  wisely  exercised, 
secure  relief  and  survival. 

If,  now,  over  and  above  the  desire  to  be 
adjusted  to  one's  environment  or  to  improve 
one's  standard  of  living  there  exists  a  pur- 
pose for  future  fulfillment  —  such  as  "the 
kingdom  of  God  on  earth"  or  "socialism"  or 
the  "  cooperative  commonwealth  "  —  this  pur- 
pose may  also  become  a  fruitful  source  of 
thought  as  to  the  best  means  of  realizing  it. 
Or  it  may,  as  I  have  hinted,  through  the  in- 
fluence of  dogma  seal  the  mind  to  thought  so 
that  exaltation  becomes  a  curse.  Similarly, 
thought  may  be  inhibited  by  a  rapt  contem- 
plation of  the  end  desired.  These  familiar 
truths  are  interestingly  illustrated  in  the  con- 
trasted policies  of  the  English  Fabian  Society 
and  in  the  orthodox  socialist  attitude  in  Amer- 
ica as  we  see  it  manifested  in  the  party  press. 
The  English  organization  has  been  opportun- 

20I 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

ist  and  constructive  in  interest  and  effort,  seek- 
ing to  work  out  step  by  step  the  details  of 
democratic  government  in  a  great  industrial 
commonwealth.  The  American  party  has 
tended  to  set  a  rather  static  "socialism  ac- 
cording to  Marx"  as  its  goal  and  anathema- 
tized measures  and  advances  which  were  in 
the  direction  of  "social  reform."  All  new  ideas 
are  brought  to  the  touchstone  of  a  given  dogma 
and  praised  or  blamed  as  they  correspond 
with  a  preconceived  criterion. 

Another  undoubted,  although  less  tangible, 
source  of  inhibition  to  thought  has  been  the 
belief  that  the  injustices  of  this  world  are  to 
be  righted  in  the  next;  that  although  earth  is 
a  "desert  drear"  a  heaven  of  great  comfort  is 
in  store.  Escape  as  the  chief  aim  in  life  has 
always  proved  sure  death  to  realistic  intellec- 
tion. 

Fortunately  the  purposes  of  life  which  are 
dominant  to-day  are  more  provocative  and 
more  immediately  compelling.  Industrial  in- 
justice gets  its  hold  upon  our  minds  and  hearts 
because  of  hopes  of  brotherhood,  fraternity, 
democracy — and  similar  aims  more  or  less 

202 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  CURIOSITY 

definitely  conceived.  Back  of  the  A.F.  of  L., 
back  of  the  I.W.W.,  He  deep-rooted  aspira- 
tions of  this  generous  character  which,  at 
least  in  a  general  way,  give  momentum  and 
direction  to  the  attitude  and  policy  of  those 
organizations. 

There  remains  to  consider  the  importance 
of  a  method  of  thinking.  The  dogmatism  of 
social  groups  of  all  sorts  —  political  parties, 
trade-unions,  churches  —  grows  from  the  fact 
of  group  submissiveness  and  inertia.  But  it 
also  grows  from  the  sheer  inability  of  group 
members  to  think  critically,  positively,  and 
clearly.  Why  is  the  A.F.  of  L.  still  reluctant 
to  support  a  legislatively  secured  eight-hour 
day  for  men?  Has  there  been  an  exhaustive 
compilation  of  relevant  evidence?  Have  the 
cases  where  it  has  been  tried  been  studied  to 
see  the  effect  on  unionism?  Why  is  the  A.F. 
of  L.  so  absolutely  opposed  to  the  scientific 
management  movement?  I  am  not  raising 
here  any  question  as  to  the  tightness  of  their 
opposition,^  but  rather  as  to  the  method  of 

'  I  might  with  equal  relevance  ask  why  the  leaders 
of  the  scientific  management  movement  have  been  so 

203 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

arriving  at  important  judgments.  Has  it 
studied  the  effects  of  work  on  the  workers  in 
scientifically  managed  shops?  Has  it  found 
Gilt  exactly  what  the  workers  in  those  shops 
think  about  the  system?  Does  it  know  the 
relative  importance  of  the  different  elements 
of  the  "Taylor  System"  in  different  shops  in 
the  light  of  recent  partial  applications  of  Tay- 
lor's methods  ?  I  am  not  citing  the  attitude  of 
the  A.F.  of  L.  in  any  invidious  spirit;  it  sim- 
ply furnishes  a  convenient  and  familiar  illus- 
tration (of  which  there  are  legion  in  all  classes 
of  society)  of  the  lack  of  an  impartial,  scientific 
habit  of  thought  and  inquiry  on  problems  re- 
garding which  it  has  very  positive  convictions. 
This  is  not  the  place  to  expound  the  scien- 
tific method  of  thinking.  My  attempt  is  sim- 
ply to  emphasize  that  the  scientific  method  is 
still  relatively  unknown  and  unused.  By  a 
great  majority  of  people  ideas  are  rarely  ac- 
cepted after  a  process  of  examination  of  the 

bitter  against  the  unions.  A  brief  but  suggestive 
statement  of  the  elements  of  this  controversy  from  the 
employer's  point  of  view  is  to  be  found  in  C.  Bertrand 
Thompson,  The  Theory  and  Practice  of  Scientific  Man- 
agement. Houghton  Mifflin  Company,  191 7. 

204 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  CURIOSITY 

facts  out  of  which  they  grow.  The  tendency 
of  the  human  organism  is  to  get  along  on  as 
narrow  a  margin  of  intellectual  effort  as  pos- 
sible. An  attempt  to  justify  all  one's  ideas 
by  a  study  of  their  correspondence  to  the  real- 
ities of  any  situation  is  an  effort  made  only  on 
strong  provocation  by  persons  of  extraordi- 
nary energy  and  spirit. 

This  last  statement  does  not,  of  course, 
contradict  my  point  that  the  initial  impulsion 
to  thinking  is  instinctive.  If  we  bear  in  mind 
that  the  instincts  exist  to  conduce  to  self  and 
group  preservation,  it  becomes  clear  that  the 
survival  value  of  thought  will  vary  from  time 
to  time,  just  as  does  the  survival  value  of 
fighting.  And  exactly  as  it  is  true  to  say  that 
we  get  on  with  as  little  fighting  as  we  safely 
can,  so  it  is  logical  to  conclude  that  most  of 
us  think  only  when  and  to  the  extent  that  we 
are  forced  to.  That  this  does  not  set  neces- 
sarily narrow  limits  to  the  thought  function 
will  be  clear  when  we  recollect  the  great  num- 
ber of  problems  which  to-day  confront  society 
for  solution  if  we  would  have  any  peace  of  mind 
or  comfort  of  body. 

20S 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

One  further  important  fact  about  the  opera- 
tion of  thought  remains  to  be  noted.  I  refer 
to  the  effect  of  fear  on  thought.  Fear  paralyzes 
the  mind  and  inhibits  thought.  Fear  is  the 
emotional  accompaniment  of  real  or  supposed 
danger  to  the  individual  or  group.  In  a  situ- 
ation where  the  terror  of  annihilation  is  pres- 
ent no  new  ideas  can  enter.  The  attention  is 
hypnotized  by  the  one  problem  of  getting  out 
of  danger  —  of  self-preservation. 

This  fact  is  of  great  significance  in  the  in- 
dustrial world.  At  the  core  of  existence  for 
many  workers  is  a  paralyzing  fearfulness :  fear 
that  the  job  is  going  to  stop ;  fear  that  the  doc- 
tor's bill  will  be  too  great;  fear  that  another 
child  is  to  be  born  —  fear,  in  other  words,  that 
income  will  prove  inadequate  for  decent  liveli- 
hood. Life  lived  constantly  under  or  near  to 
such  a  cloud  of  terrorism  can  never  know  the 
meaning  of  real  thought;  can  contribute  little 
to  the  energies  and  effective  protest  of  group 
revolt.  The  "slum  proletariat"  has  ever  been 
recognized  as  that  remnant  of  the  working-class 
which  could  be  reached  last  by  the  customary 
methods  of  labor  agitation  and  organization. 

266 


THE  INSTINCT  OF  CURIOSITY 

Does  the  evidence  indicate  overwhelmingly, 
then,  that  this  job  of  thinking  is  one  which  is 
undertaken  infrequently  and  with  little  suc- 
cess? I  answer  that  this  seems  now  to  be  the 
case;  but  that  it  need  be  the  case  I  am  less 
prepared  to  admit.  Rather  must  we  be  at 
pains,  in  view  of  our  knowledge  of  the  neces- 
sary conditions,  the  difficulties,  and  the  im- 
portance of  thought,  to  create  situations  in 
which  intellection  becomes  more  possible  and 
more  easy.  The  proper  "organization  of 
thought "  ^  is  a  problem  crying  out  for  inten- 
sive deliberation  and  invention.  Upon  suc- 
cessful accomplishment  in  this  direction  will 
depend  the  rapidity  of  our  progress  in  bring- 
ing the  facts  of  human  nature  and  the  prac- 
tices of  industry  into  working  harmony. 

But  think  what  we  lack  to-day:  physical 
vitality,  leisure,  habits  of  thought,  a  recognition 
of  hardship,  clear  social  purposes  or  any  pur- 
poses at  all,  a  right  and  economical  method  of 
thinking.  When,  and  only  when,  we  are  pre- 
pared on  a  universal  basis  to  make  good  these 
deficiencies,  can  we  expect  people  to  become 

^  See  Graham  Wallas,  The  Great  Society^  chap.  xi. 
207 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

thoughtful,  intelHgent,  and  mentally  active. 
Happily  none  of  these  attendant  conditions 
are  impossible  to  secure,  once  we  set  out  to  get 
them.  Thus  far  there  has  not  been  enough 
popular  faith  in  the  possibility  of  wise,  human 
control  of  life  to  make  us  undertake  to  uni- 
versalize intelligence.  The  day  is  coming, 
however,  when  we  shall  have  a  real  vision  of 
the  happiness  which  an  intelligent  control  of 
the  world's  material  and  spiritual  forces  can 
bring.  And  when  that  day  comes,  we  shall  call 
into  play,  as  we  never  yet  have,  the  human 
being's  native  desire  to  be  intellectually  master 
of  his  fate. 


CHAPTER  XII 

CONCLUSION 

Our  sketch  of  the  characteristic  types  of  in- 
stinctive behavior  among  workers  in  modern 
industry  is  now  completed.  The  attempt  has 
been  to  suggest,  in  connection  with  each  of  a 
number  of  undeniably  influential  instinctive 
endowments,  what  their  eff^ect  upon  conduct 
is  and  can  be  expected  to  be.  The  facts  are 
matters  of  common  observation.  What,  then, 
do  they  mean?  Do  they  mean  that  our  in- 
stincts are  playing  at  hide  and  seek  with  each 
other  and  with  us;  that  conduct  is  "predeter- 
mined," capricious,  and  subject  to  the  pull 
and  haul  of  impulses  —  as  if  it  were  a  carcass 
being  pulled  in  as  many  directions  as  there  are 
hungry  wolves  with  teeth  embedded  in  its 
flesh?  Or  can  we  point  to  some  place  where 
the  element  of  plan  and  will  and  intention  enter 
in?  Can  we  from  this  array  of  incidents  de- 
duce any  valid  conclusions  as  to  a  sound  rela- 
tion between  the  conduct  of  industry  and  the 
conduct  of  the  individual? 

209 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

Human  nature  in  the  sense  of  being  a  total 
of  innate  tendencies  cannot,  it  is  true,  be 
changed.  It  is  given.  But  our  reactions  to 
situations  change  whether  we  wish  it  or  not, 
and  they  can  be  made  to  change  both  in  kind 
and  in  degree.  The  causes  of  some  of  these 
changes  we  have  already  indicated.  A  more 
complete  list  of  the  influences  which  can  enter 
to  modify  instinctive  reactions  is  now  neces- 
sary as  serving  to  emphasize  not  only  the 
strength  and  number  of  forces  which  alter  the 
expression  of  native  tendencies,  but  also  the 
subtlety  required  in  analysis. 

Observation  shows  that  the  following  influ- 
ences are  among  the  most  important  in  their 
modifying  effect  on  individual  conduct:  There 
are  the  environmental  factors  to  which  adap- 
tation is  made  for  purposes  of  survival ;  namely, 
climate  and  weather.  Instinctive  responses 
will  vary  with  the  degree  and  kind  of  stimula- 
tion, with  the  motives  which  individuals  or 
groups  have  conceived  as  actuating  their  con- 
duct, with  the  sex,  with  the  relative  strength 
of  instincts  inherited  by  the  individual,  with 
the  age  and  physical  condition  of  the  individual 

2IO 


CONCLUSION 

and  with  his  race,  with  the  habits  instilled  in 
youth  and  the  institutions  which  prevail  in 
the  community,  with  the  system  of  education, 
and  with  the  meaning  which  is  imputed  to  life. 
With  such  an  array  of  variants  and  modi- 
fiers to  our  instinctive  responses  I  will  seem 
bold,  indeed,  in  venturing  to  assert  that  one 
value  of  a  closer  knowledge  of  the  operation 
of  instinct  is  as  an  aid  in  forecasting  conduct. 
But  such  is  nevertheless  the  case.  As  our 
knowledge  increases  and  as  our  technique  of 
human   analysis   develops,^  the   elements  of 

*  An  interesting  concrete  case  in  point  comes  to 
hand  in  a  recent  report  (Memorandum  i8)  of  the 
British  Health  of  Munition  Workers  Committee.  In 
studying  how  to  secure  maximum  output  with  a 
minimum  of  fatigue  it  has  become  possible  for  Dr. 
Vernon  to  prophesy  variations  in  the  quantity  of 
product  through  the  week  as  well  as  to  say  approxi- 
mately how  many  hours  a  week  can  profitably  be 
spent  by  an  individual  at  his  machine.  For  example, 
he  says,  regarding  a  group  of  eighty  women  whom  he 
studies,  "had  these  women  been  working  uniformly 
a  nominal  fifty-hour  week,  their  gross  output  would 
have  been  as  large  as  when  they  were  working  a  nomi- 
nal sixty-six-hour  week,  and  considerably  greater 
than  when  they  were  working  a  seventy-seven-hour 
weeL  In  other  words,  a  considerable  addition  to  the 
leisure  time  of  the  operative  would  have  substantially 
improved  the  output  of  the  factory." 

211 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

each  situation  tend  to  stand  out  in  clearer 
relief  and  the  forces  at  work  to  produce  new 
situations  become  more  capable  of  estimation 
and  even  measurement.  Our  increasing  pro- 
phetic power  is  not,  of  course,  to  be  applied 
in  any  meticulous  or  trivial  way.  The  pre- 
dictability of  conduct  stands  rather  as  a  broad 
truth  to  be  broadly  applied.  There  is  no  occa- 
sion to  let  the  mind  run  riot  as  to  unessential 
details  of  the  prospective  conduct  of  individ- 
uals or  groups.  But  there  is  every  reason  to 
understand  the  social  and  economic  conditions 
and  characteristics  of  a  town,  state,  or  nation 
which  are  manifestly  repressing  human  nature 
and  making  life  ignoble  and  mean.  For  we 
do  know  how  human  nature  has  reacted  to 
certain  typical  situations.  We  know  the  limits 
of  human  endurance.  We  know  increasingly 
the  potentialities  of  people  under  stated  limi- 
tations. 

More  than  this  is  a  necessary  prerequisite, 
however,  of  any  accurate  guess  as  to  the  re- 
sponse which  human  nature  will  make  under 
defined  circumstances.  It  must  also  be  estab- 
lished that  under  the  same  stimuli  and  with 

212 


CX)NCLUSION 

similar  attendant  surroundings  human  nature 
will  react  in  identical  ways;  that  it  is,  in  other 
words,  subject  to  law.  Whether  the  scattering 
evidence  which  has  been  here  brought  together 
lends  plausibility  to  the  assertion  that  the 
elements  of  human  nature  are  subject  to  law, 
remains,  of  course,  for  the  reader  to  deter- 
mine. But  that  like  stimuli  produce  like  re- 
sponses would  seem  to  be  a  fair  inference  from 
our  facts.  The  history  of  familiar  working- 
class  behavior  from  the  Jewish  uprisings  in 
Egypt  against  Pharaoh,  through  the  revolts 
of  the  Spartan  slaves,  the  propaganda  of  the 
Gracchi,  and  the  overthrow  of  the  feudal 
lords,  down  to  the  proletarian  movements  of 
to-day,  bears  witness  to  a  similar  response  to 
psychologically  analogous  situations. 

Moreover,  a  forecasting  of  conduct  is  made 
more  and  more  possible,  easy,  and  socially 
useful  because  it  implies  among  other  things 
a  close  study  of  the  individual  and  of  his  en- 
vironment. The  very  complexity  of  human 
motivation  and  endowments  invites  special 
"case"  analysis.  We  cannot  modify  activity 
or  divert  conduct  into  safe  channels  unless  we 

213 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

know  our  man.  The  first  enormous  gain  of  a 
psychological  approach  to  industry  is  a  new 
sense  of  the  importance  of  the  individual  per- 
sonality/ and  of  the  limits  within  which  it 
works.  The  individual  or  the  specific  group 
achieves  a  place  in  constructive  thought  about 
situations,  which  is  not  only  more  conspicu- 
ous than  formerly,  but  more  provocative  of 
wise  emphasis  in  the  future.  Under  these 
circumstances  treatment  of  people  becomes 
more  considerate,  discerning,  and  deft.  "The 
discovery  of  the  individual"  takes  place,  of 
course,  recurrently  every  few  generations.  But 
to  see  the  individual  as  a  compact  of  ascer- 
tainable impulses  and  tendencies  joining  with 
other  individuals  of  like  structure  to  carry  on 
the  vast  modern  enterprise  of  our  economic 
life,  is  to  see  empires  in  terms  at  once  realis- 
tic, vivid,  and  wieldy.  It  is  to  get  a  really 
new  and  fresh  outlook  on  people  and  progress. 

'  Compare  The  Athenceum  (English),  August, 
1917,  p.  382:  "The  significance  of  the  new  trend  of 
thought  in  trade-unionism  and  of  syndicaHsm  and 
Guild  socialism,  lies  in  the  fact  that  they  are  a  reac- 
tion against  the  sacrifice  of  the  producer  to  the  con- 
sumer. They  proclaim  the  doctrine  that  a  place  must 
be  found  for  human  personality  in  industry." 

214 


CONCLUSION 

This  is  an  incalculable  gain.  Industry  has 
been  in  danger  of  losing  sight  of  the  person. 
Now  we  get  back  to  people  —  to  men  and 
women  whose  passions  energize  the  structure 
of  industry.  Workers  cease  to  be  "hands" 
and  numbers,  and  become  human  beings.  We 
hear  much  of  "humanizing"  our  industrial 
system.  What  is  involved  in  this  is  nothing 
more  nor  less  than  a  discovery  of  personali- 
ties, a  knowledge  of  their  human  natures,  and 
an  effort  to  give  those  natures  a  chance. 

No  exhaustive  analysis  of  the  elementary 
characteristics  of  people  has  been  here  at- 
tempted. But  we  have  seen  that  certain  out- 
standing traits  are  causally  related  to  much  of 
the  prevailing  conduct  in  modern  industry. 
And  a  knowledge  of  the  human  tendencies  — 
from  the  parental  through  the  entire  list  to 
curiosity — has  thrown  light  on  events  which 
may  heretofore  have  seemed  to  be  without  sense 
or  reason.  The  individual  is  now  seen  as  a 
compact  of  ascertainable  impulses,  who  acts  as 
he  does  because  known  forces,  external  and  in- 
ternal, are  at  work  to,  influence  his  behavior. 

The  individualization  of  industry  demands, 

215 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

however,  something  more  than  a  regard  for 
the  conduct  of  each  person  separately.  Sound 
analysis  demands  that  such  study  be  inex- 
tricably tied  up  with  the  attempt  to  apply 
our  fragmentary  knowledge  about  the  struc- 
ture, functions,  and  characteristics  of  groups 
and  group  behavior.  We  have  seen  how  largely 
the  conduct  of  men  is  determined  by  their 
group  associations,  and  it  is  idle  to  suppose 
that  in  the  absence  of  light  upon  their  loyal- 
ties and  attachments  we  can  calculate  their 
individual  reactions.  To  be  sure,  our  knowl- 
edge about  group  reactions  is  far  from  ade- 
quate, but  there  is  sufficient  promise  in  what 
we  have  to  afford  encouragement.  It  seems 
probable,  for  example,  that  there  is  great  prac- 
tical value  in  the  application  of  the  idea  that 
instincts,  if  not  expressed  or  successfully  di- 
verted into  channels  of  equivalent  impulsive 
value,  are  a  source  of  increasing  danger  as  the 
suppression  goes  on.  If  it  is  true  that  three 
alternatives  are  present  in  the  working-out 
of  all  natural  tendencies;  namely,  expression, 
suppression,  or  sublimation  —  this  opens  up 
an  extraordinary  field  for  social  experimenta- 

216 


CONCLUSION 

tion.  The  possibilities  in  the  direction  of  sub- 
limation of  those  traits  for  which  civilization 
seems  to  have  comparatively  little  use,  appear 
to  be  infinite.  In  one  sense  the  central  problem 
of  progress  hinges  upon  this  very  question. 
Can  people,  our  study  forces  us  to  ask,  find 
in  the  institutions  and  environment  of  modern 
life  conditions  which  allow  for  proper  play  of 
all  the  inherent  impulses  which  demand  ex- 
pression and  some  measure  of  satisfaction? 
And  this  problem,  we  must  understand,  is 
preponderantly  a  group  problem.  For  to-day, 
as  never  before,  we  live  in  such  immediate 
contact  with  so  many  people  that  our  satisfac- 
tions and  activities  have  to  come  to  us  largely 
in  group  events  and  in  the  behavior  of  people 
associated  together  for  special  purposes,  of 
which  the  purpose  of  producing  goods  in 
industry  is  the  one  to  which  we  here  have 
given  special  attention. 

The  conduct  of  groups  in  industry,  like  that 
of  individuals,  is  also  to  be  more  readily  under- 
stood when  we  know  even  a  little  about  the 
moving  energies  out  of  which  it  proceeds. 
This  means,  of  course,  that  a  change  in  causes 

217 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

will  bring  a  change  in  efifects.  And  experience 
shows  that  this  is  true.  If,  to  take  an  example 
which  is  impossible  only  in  degree,  a  twenty- 
five  per  cent  increase  in  the  wages  of  all  mem- 
bers of  a  mill  community  would  in  a  given  period 
of  time  halve  the  arrests,  would  increase  the 
births,  reduce  the  sick-rate  by  twenty  per  cent, 
and  add  forty  per  cent  to  the  saving  banks' 
deposits,  there  would  seem  to  exist  in  hu- 
man affairs  an  element  of  organic  relationship 
which  opens  the  door  to  wise  control  and 
effective  interposition. 

In  other  words,  industry  discovers  again  the 
precious  value  of  each  individual.  But  that 
value,  we  now  see,  is  to  be  realized  only  as  we 
give  measurable  latitude  to  the  behavior  of 
groups  —  trade-unions,  cooperative  societies, 
political  parties  —  no  less  than  to  the  activities 
of  the  individuals  within  them.  If  we  are  really 
to  set  up  personality  as  one  of  the  major  ends 
in  life,  we  must  see  to  it  that  all  the  impulses 
secure  expression;  and  not  the  least  important 
of  these  is  the  desire  (and  necessity)  for  con- 
certed action  in  associations  of  various  sorts. 
Personality  as  a  touchstone  requires  the  pro 

218 


CONCLUSION 

vision  of  chances  for  rounded  self-expression 
and  for  conscious  self-direction.  The  institu- 
tional arrangements  which  assure  these  are 
naturally  democratic  in  method  and  in  spirit. 
The  demand  for  a  recognition  and  for  a  free 
play  of  instincts  in  industry  ends,  if  the  testi- 
mony of  this  study  is  accurate,  in  a  demand 
for  democracy  in  industry. 

Our  facts,  therefore,  appear  to  have  brought 
us  to  several  fairly  definite  conclusions :  — 

First,  that  the  causes  of  the  conduct  of  in- 
dividuals and  groups  are  knowable.  Although 
there  are  subtleties  and  complexities  we  can 
come  to  approximate  knowledge  of  the  origins 
of  the  characteristic  reactions  of  people  to 
given  types  of  situations.  We  can  begin  to 
answer  with  some  beginnings  of  accuracy  the 
question  which  is  so  often  put:  "Why  do  they 
act  that  way?" 

Second,  that  human  nature  and  its  elements 
are  subject  to  law  —  a  fact  from  which  we 
may  properly  derive  a  modicum  of  hope  and 
encouragement  as  to  the  future  of  the  race; 
because  this  fact  carries  with  it  the  conclu- 
sion:— 

219 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

Third,  that  conduct,  if  subject  to  law,  can 
be  controlled  if  we  can  control  its  causes.  Hu- 
man nature  will  respond  in  varying  ways  to 
varying  stimuli,  and  if  we  supply  a  stimulus 
which  is  calculated  to  evoke  only  the  more 
socially  beneficent  impulses  of  human  beings 
(assuming  that  we  know  which  these  are),  we 
can  rely  upon  the  desired  reactions  taking 
place. 

Fourth,  that  the  determining  conditions 
of  conduct,  being  in  origin  economic,  geo- 
graphic, physiological,  and  psychological,  are 
definitely  capable  of  a  measure  of  manipulation 
and  variation. 

Fifth,  that  since  adequate  expression  of  in- 
dividual and  group  impulses  requires  a  con- 
siderable measure  of  self-direction,  it  seems, not 
unlikely  that  the  demand  for  an  extension  of 
the  democratic  method  is  in  fundamental  har- 
mony with  the  facts  of  human  psychology. 

We  seem,  therefore,  to  be  entitled  to  a  point 
of  view  toward  the  problems  of  adjusting  in- 
dustry to  instinct  which  is  on  the  whole  hope- 
ful and  affirmative.  Reasons,  remedies,  and 
new  criteria  begin  to  materialize  where  many 

220 


CONCLUSION 

have  thought  that  only  caprice  and  chance 
obtained.  Human  nature  begins  to  seem  more 
comprehensible,  more  tangible,  more  suscepti- 
ble of  approach  and  control.  And  people,  as 
we  see  them  in  their  active  associations  and 
individual  preoccupations,  take  on  a  certain 
significance  and  richness  of  which  the  machine 
era  has  tended  utterly  to  strip  them.  Each 
stands  out  strikingly  different  and  unique,  yet 
all  conform  broadly  to  a  common  (and  increas- 
ingly understandable)  type.  Each  presents  a 
problem  of  adjustment  and  growth  which  is 
fascinating  in  its  delicacy  and  infinite  in  its 
possibilities.  We  get  a  fine  sense  of  the  artistry 
of  life;  of  a  potential  flowering  of  personality 
which  will  give  to  life  the  grace  and  charm  of 
a  waste  place  made  beautiful  with  trees  and 
flowers.  We  know  that  if  only  we  had  the 
patience  and  insight  to  see  each  other  as  we 
are,  we  should  not  be  racked  wanderers  "on 
the  sea  of  life  enisled,"  but  comrades  on  a 
joyous  quest. 

Are  we,  then,  to  say  that  industry  must 
square  its  practices  with  the  facts  of  our  hu- 
man structure  and  impulses?   Or  are  we  to 

221 


INSTINCTS  IN  INDUSTRY 

say  that  human  nature  must  by  some  wise 
discipline  be  made  more  amenable  to  the  pur- 
poses of  our  economic  life  ?  Or  are  we  rather 
to  say  that  knowing  the  demands  which  in- 
dustry must  set  itself  to  supply  and  knowing 
human  nature  as  it  is,  we  should  seek  both 
institutions  and  purposes  for  life  which  will 
make  possible  a  reconciliation  of  our  needs, 
our  knowledge,  and  our  limitations? 

Such  questions  inevitably  present  them- 
selves in  reflection  upon  our  facts.  But  the 
answers  to  them  lead  out  and  beyond  the  field 
of  immediate  inquiry.  I  shall  be  content  if 
the  foregoing  suggestions  and  questions  about 
the  springs  of  human  behavior  throw  some 
light  upon  the  confused  affairs  of  modern  in- 
dustry; give  a  sharpness  of  outline  to  its  most 
salient  defects;  and  hint  ever  so  tentatively 
and  broadly  at  the  kind  of  economic  organi- 
zation we  must  demand  if  human  nature  is  to 
be  coped  with  and  the  richness  of  human  life 
enhanced. 


THE  END 


CAMBRIDGK  .  MASSACHUSETTS 
U   .   S   .  A 


Date  Due 

JAN  28  « 

DEC  17 

1966 

DEC  1  9 

96fi  6 

f\ftr   1   A 

rhon^ 

kOCTlO 

ZUU9 

9 

i 

■'ARY  FACILITY 

111  III  mill 

l\A      000  028  272    3 

Tead,  Ordway. 

Instincts  in  industry, 


